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Kingdom of Swaziland

Parliament of the Kingdom of Swaziland

ICT Master Plan


ICT Master Plan

October 2010

iiiICT Master Plan

Table of Contents

Foreword ................................................................................................................................................... v

Preface .................................................................................................................................................... vii

Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... ix

Glossary of Terms ...................................................................................................................................... x

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ xii

PART I: Background and Context ............................................................................................................ 1

1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 11.1 Background ...................................................................................................................................21.2 The Role and Business of the Parliament of Swaziland (PoS) ........................................................31.3 The Context .................................................................................................................................6

PART II: Rationale for the Master Plan ................................................................................................... 8

2.0 Overview of the current ICT status ................................................................................................. 82.1 Summary of findings – Members of Parliament, ICT Department and Parliamentary

Departments Surveys (2010)..........................................................................................................8

PART III: The ICT Master Plan ............................................................................................................. 12

3.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 123.1 ICT Master Plan Objectives ........................................................................................................133.2 Master Plan Pillars .......................................................................................................................143.3 Policy Issues .................................................................................................................................153.4 Infrastructure Development .........................................................................................................193.5 E-government and democracy ......................................................................................................393.6 Interactivity ................................................................................................................................453.7 Sustainability ...............................................................................................................................473.8 ICT Master Plan Monitoring and Evaluation ..............................................................................503.9 Master Plan Budget estimates (to be revisited) .............................................................................51

4.0 Enabling factors for Implementing the ICT Master Plan ............................................................. 52

Annex 1: Report of ICT Needs Assessment for Swaziland Parliament – April 2010 ................................ 53

Annex 2: Workshop on “The role of the Members of Parliament in building an Inclusive Information Society towards accelerating the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)” ................................ 77

References ............................................................................................................................................... 88

Tables

Table 1: Strengthening ICT institutional framework and Internal Policy (IFIP) ................................18Table 2: Strengthening ICT institutional framework and Internal Policy (IFIP) – Specific Actions

and Timeline .......................................................................................................................19Table 3: Strengthening Hardware and Networking Infrastructure .....................................................23Table 4: Strengthening Hardware and Networking Infrastructure – Implementation Plan ................25Table 5: Strengthening Software and ICT Services ............................................................................29Table 6: Improving Software and ICT Services - Implementation Plan .............................................32Table 7: Human Capital Infrastructure .............................................................................................35Table 8: Strengthening Human Capital Infrastructure – Implementation Plan ..................................38Table 9: Strengthening parliamentary oversight, representative and advocacy functions ....................44Table 10: Strengthening parliamentary oversight, representative and advocacy functions –

Implementation Plan ........................................................................................................45Table 11: Harnessing the Role of Parliamentarians and ICT for Community Development ................46Table 12: Harnessing the Role of Parliamentarians and ICT for Community Development –

Implementation Plan ...........................................................................................................47Table 13: Strengthening parliamentary oversight of national and subregional ICT policy and

strategies ..............................................................................................................................48Table 14: Strengthening parliamentary oversight of national and subregional ICT policy and

strategies – Implementation planTable 15: Master Plan budget estimates...............................................................................................51

Figures

Figure 1: Picture frame of ICT Master Plan for Parliament ...............................................................15Figure 2: Strengthening ICT Institutional Framework and Internal Policy .........................................16Figure 3: Strengthening ICT Infrastructure ........................................................................................20Figure 4: Virtual private Network Overview 10/ ................................................................................22Figure 5: Improving Software and ICT Services ................................................................................26Figure 6 Strengthening Parliament’s oversight, legislative, advocacy and government formation

function...............................................................................................................................40

vICT Master Plan

Foreword

Parliaments, as one of the important pillars for democracy, should take the lead in reducing the digital divide by ensuring that the benefits of accessing technology are extended to constituencies, reaching the remotest parts of countries through the Internet. This implies that Parliamentarians should first of all be not only familiar with the concepts of ICTs, but also be users of the new technologies so they could confidently invite their electorates to join the digital trend. Development of a robust telecommunication infrastructure is a must to facilitate the necessary access to information, efficient communication and information exchange within nations and hence the use of ICTs.

It is therefore in the best interest of Parliaments to lead the implementation of initiatives in support of citizens’ increased participation and enhance the universal provision of ICT services. Internet is now globally viewed as the backbone for access to information and any country that still lags behind in access to the Internet cannot fully achieve the benefits of using the new technologies in this digital world.

As legal representatives of the people, it is essential for Parliaments to take advantage of ICT to foster democracy, help shape the Information Society and improve their own role within it. A healthy democracy is marked by Parliaments that are transparent, accountable and able to respond to their constituencies, thus motivating them to actively participate in the policy- and decision-making processes of their countries, with special consideration given to rural areas, the disabled, the under-privileged urban areas, institutions of learning, health, women and women’s organizations, community media groups and other key stakeholders.

The challenges identified in the needs assessment such as lack of awareness of the benefits of using ICTs in Parliament, lack of capacity and skills and non-existent policies and strategies facing the Parliament of Swaziland need to be urgently addressed. It is evident that other African Parliaments are facing similar challenges, affecting the transformation process that would bring about the full potential of ICTs.

Deployment of ICTs can enhance the effectiveness of Parliamentarians in improving their scrutiny of the executive, interaction with the electorate and contribution to the debate on Information Society at both the regional and global levels. In the absence of an enabling and supportive legislative environment it is difficult to plan, allocate resources and monitor and oversee the effective implementation of any policies.

The Master Plan premised on the principles espoused locally in the Swaziland NICI Policy and the National Development Strategy (NDS); regionally in the SADC-PF Strategy; internationally in the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS); will guide the exploitation of ICTs that are driving national development efforts and assist in addressing traditional development problems with effective, more-easily-scalable and replicable innovative solutions. It is a useful tool for making decisions and aims at raising awareness, harnessing the benefits of ICT in supporting Parliament’s basic values of transparency, accessibility, accountability and effectiveness and, at the same time, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of its representative, legislative and oversight functions, hence helping to achieve the vision of Harnessing ICT potentials to establish and develop a paperless Parliament that is Representative, Responsive, Efficient, Effective, Accountable and Accessible (R.E.A.L).

Furthermore, a systematic use of ICTs, will: enhance ICT capabilities among staff and MPs, strengthen the ICT institutional framework and Parliamentary Information System Operation Policy; foster e-Government and democracy - the representative, legislative, oversight and government formation functions; promote interactivity - harnessing ICTs to promote community and constituency development and inter-parliamentary cooperation; make for sustainability - parliamentary oversight of national and subregional ICT policy and strategies as well as funding for and monitoring and evaluation of the plan.

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Through this ICT Master Plan, we hope MPs will be enlightened and equipped to deploy ICTS in their work, take Parliament to the people, enhance the interaction between the public, Government and the private sector, effectively address the challenges facing the nation such as development of the human capitol, combating HIV/AIDS, infrastructure development, reducing the number of poor people and providing digital opportunities to meet our development challenges.

May we take this opportunity to call upon all Parliamentarians, Senators, Staff of Parliament, Government Ministries, Parastatals, NGOs, the Private sector, the Business community and all stakeholders to be actively involved in mobilizing resources, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the ICT Master Plan, joining hands with the Parliament ICT Committee which has been mandated to coordinate and ensure the effective implementation of the ICT Master Plan.

HRH Prince GuduzaSpeaker,


Senator Gelane ZwanePresident of Senate,


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Preface

In recognition of the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as strategic tools in strengthening policy development, promoting competitiveness and stimulating economic growth and lowering delivery costs for public services in all sectors, both developed and developing countries are undertaking initiatives that promote their use. The international community has also responded by launching initiatives to bridge the digital divide. The economic and social development mandate of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has enabled it to play a primary role in coordinating and facilitating the development of international and regional policies and programmes to ensure Africa’s full and active participation in developing the global knowledge economy. This includes ECA ensuring that the importance of ICTs in facilitating the attainment of development goals is recognized and that it appropriately responds to the challenges of the information age. In recognition of this, ECA launched the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) in May 1996 as a common vision, not only to bridge the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world, but also to provide opportunities for Africans to develop digital capacities effectively and to speed up the continent’s entry into a global economy propelled by information and knowledge.

Since the launch of AISI, ECA has been supporting Member States in developing their National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) policies, plans and strategies. These provide the framework within which ICTs are mainstreamed into the national planning process to facilitate the achievement of national development priorities and objectives. ECA has also been supporting Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and national and regional institutions in developing e-strategies to enhance their core activities. E-Parliament is one of these areas of intervention and it is through partnership with ECA that national Parliaments can benefit from the principles and programmes of AISI.

In increasing the capacity of African stakeholders to help build the Information Society, ECA identified MPs as a priority group and has undertaken several capacity-building initiatives in this regard. To date, over 600 African MPs have participated in awareness, sensitization and training programmes on the benefits of ICTs and how MPs can help promote the adoption of ICTs within their constituencies and nationally. By working with Parliaments, ECA aims to empower them and staff of African Parliaments to use ICT tools and gain adequate knowledge on Information Society issues so as to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.

The overall objective is:

• To use ICTs to enhance democratic governance and to promote effective debate, sharing and enhanced public participation in the legislative and policy-making processes;

• To support greater oversight by Parliaments through the use of ICTs;

• To strengthen the capacity of Parliamentarians in making decisions about the Information Society, advocating greater investments in ICTs and promoting pro-poor ICT applications and benefits within their constituencies; and

• To set up ICT parliamentary committees to support Parliaments in their use of ICTs and in how to tackle Information Society issues from a national development perspective.

The mandate of ECA includes supporting development programmes for member States. In line with this and through its Southern Africa Office (ECA-SA), it has assisted the Kingdom of Swaziland in developing an ICT Master Plan for its Parliament. The Master Plan is intended to help the Parliament of the Kingdom of Swaziland to address broader developmental goals such as democratic governance and also to reinforce Swaziland’s commitment to addressing special national needs and meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

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In addition to this, the Southern African Development Community, through the Parliamentary Forum, identified ICT as being of cross-cutting importance in all areas of development and also recognized the vital role of Parliamentarians as representatives, overseers and legislators in driving national, regional and international initiatives. This recognition guided the formulation of the ICT strategy for the SADC region. Parliaments are the best institutions for monitoring and appraising the positive effects of new technologies given their contribution to economic development and in dealing with new challenges of promoting, regulating and safeguarding the development of an equitable Information Society. The ICT strategy also served as a platform for facilitating international and regional bodies’ effective support to the process of formulating and implementing ICT strategies and policies in the region.

The development of the ICT Master Plan for the National Assembly is therefore a major step in the right direction. Buoyed by the support of the Members of Parliament and developed by the staff of Parliament, it has appropriate support, momentum and enthusiasm. However, we must give a high priority to implementing the plan and to obtaining the necessary investment if we are to derive the benefits of these noble efforts. In this context, it is crucial that we strictly adhere to the set implementation timelines.

I congratulate the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland and its Parliament for developing this ICT Master Plan and assure them of the continued support of ECA to the implementation process.

I also call on all development partners to give the Parliament of the Kingdom of Swaziland their full support in implementing its ICT Master Plan.

Abdoulie Janneh United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA

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Acronyms and Abbreviations

A&U Access and use of computersAISI African Information Society InitiativeAMS Availability of mail servicesAVOIR African Virtual Open Initiatives and ResourcesCBP Capacity building programmesCePRC Canada ePolicy Resource NetworkCIPESA Cooperation on International ICT Policy for East and Southern AfricaCCTV Closed-Circuit Television CMS Content Management SystemCOMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern AfricaDHCP Dynamic Host Configuration ProtocolePol-NET Global ePolicy Resource NetworkFM Financing mechanismFOSS Free and Open Source SoftwareGA&U General application and usageICT Information and Communications TechnologyICT4D ICT for DevelopmentIIS Contributing to an inclusive information societyIPC Promoting inter-parliamentary cooperationIPV4 Internet Protocol Version 4ISOP Information System Operation PolicyK&S Knowledge and skillsLAN Local Area NetworkMDGs Millennium Development Goals MPs Members of ParliamentMAN Metropolitan Area NetworkMS office Microsoft OfficeNICI National Information and Communication InfrastructurePops Parliament OSISA Open Society Initiative for Southern AfricaPLC Parliamentary Leadership CentrePoS Parliament of Swaziland SADC Southern African Development CommunitySADC-PF Southern African Development Community – Parliamentary ForumSMTP Small Mail Transfer ProtocolToRs Terms of ReferencesECA-SA United Nations Economic Commission for Africa – Southern AfricaWA Web accessibility by staffWAN Wide Area NetworkWSIS World Summit on the Information SocietySIIF Strengthen ICT Institutional frameworkSII Strengthen ICT InfrastructureSOLRF Strengthen Oversight, Legislative and Representative FunctionsSOINSPS Strengthen Oversight of ICT National and Subregional Policy and StrategiesSCDIC Strengthen community development and inter-parliamentary cooperation

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Glossary of Terms

Digital Democracy: A term used when the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) enhances citizen participation in the democratic process. It is the computerization of political discourse, policy making and the political process with the view of increasing, enhancing and deepening citizen participation in the policy- and decision-making processes of Government through such activities as electoral campaigns, voting, consultation and participation in the policy process, public opinion polling and communication exchange between elected officials and constituents.

Digital Divide: Denotes enormous disparities in the ICT endowment/infrastructure, the capacity to use ICTs, affordable and equitable access to knowledge, information and suitable digital content. It is also defined as unequal access and diffusion to ICT both between and within countries. It is calculated by dividing the penetration rates in the developed world by the penetration rate in the developing world. Indicators measure insufficient infrastructure, high cost of access, lack of local content and uneven ability to derive economic and social benefits from information-intensive activities.

E-Commerce/Electronic Commerce: Business activities involving consumers, manufactures, suppliers, service providers and intermediaries using computer networks such as the internet.

E-Governance: A broad concept which includes enhancing delivery of government services and information through ICTs, thereby strengthening accountability and transparency of government actions, launching of new participatory mechanisms and fostering decentralization processes.

E-Government: Defined broadly, e-Government is the use of ICT to promote more efficient and effective Government, facilitate more accessible government services, allow greater public access to information and make Government more accountable to citizens, thus empowering them. E-Government denotes the e-services and e-applications used by Government in carrying out its day-to-day activities.

E-Parliament: A legislature that is empowered to be more transparent, accessible and accountable through ICT. It empowers various people to be engaged in public life by providing greater access to parliamentary documents and activities. Connected stakeholders use ICT to effectively support their primary functions of representation, law-making and oversight. Through the application of modern technology and standards and the adoption of supportive policies, it fosters development of an equitable and inclusive information society.

E-Parliamentarian: A legislator who effectively uses the enabling capabilities of ICT and the related opportunities to make significant contributions to their development and governance; and who provides strategic direction and championship in the development and exploitation of the enabling capabilities of ICT to address the development challenges they face in their respective constituencies, countries and regions collectively.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs): Technologies that facilitate communication and the processing and transmission of information by electronic means. This broad definition encompasses the full range of ICTs, from radio and television to telephones (fixed and mobile), computers and the Internet.

Information economy: An economy based on exchange of knowledge, information and services rather than on physical goods and services.

New ICTs: Personal computers, mobile phones, satellite and wireless technologies, Internet and the Wide World Web.

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Traditional ICTs: Telephone, radio and television.

Vulgarization: The act or instance of making something, as abstruse or highly technical information, more readily intelligible or widely known.

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Acknowledgements

The Government and Parliament of the Kingdom of Swaziland are immensely grateful to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and its Southern African Subregional Office (ECA-SA) based in Lusaka, Zambia, for the technical assistance and financial support given for the development of its ICT Master Plan which is partly based on the SADC-PF ICT Strategy.

The Parliament of Swaziland would also like to acknowledge the efforts and diverse inputs of the various officials from Government Ministries, the business community, ICT experts, Staff of ECA-SA, Staff of the Parliament of Swaziland, Members of Parliament and the rest of the stakeholders who provided integrated inputs to enrich this plan, ensuring its relevance to the current parliamentary reforms.

The document is a product of consultancy work done under the guidance of ECA-SA with support from the Staff and Members of Parliament of the Kingdom of Swaziland.

I hope that successful implementation of this ICT Master Plan will increase learning, increase ICT awareness and harness the benefits of ICT in supporting Parliament’s basic values and functions, thus helping to achieve the vision of “Harnessing ICT potentials to establish and develop a paperless Parliament that is Representative, Responsive, Efficient, Effective, Accountable and Accessible (R.E.A.L).”

Mrs. Sanele Nxumalo Clerk to Parliament The Parliament of the Kingdom of Swaziland

1ICT Master Plan

PART I: Background and Context

1.0 IntroductionThe role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has been acknowledged as important in facilitating the attainment of developmental goals in all sectors of the economy. This was recognized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in May 1996 when African Information Society Initiative (AISI) 1 was launched by the Conference of Ministers in charge of social and economic development and planning as an action framework of information and communication activities in Africa. AISI was thus a common vision for bridging the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world and for establishing effective digital opportunities to be developed by Africans and their partners, and to speed the continent’s entry into the information and knowledge global economy.

South African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) also identified ICT as a cross-cutting topic in most areas dealt with by Parliamentarians and thus gave Parliaments a significant role in the development, monitoring and evaluation and mobilization of financial resources for national ICT strategies. This assessment of the importance of ICT in Parliaments followed ICT surveys undertaken by SADC-PF in 2001 and 20022 which indicated that adoption of ICT for national Parliaments was undertaken on an ad hoc basis, rendering Parliaments incomparable in development, skills, knowledge and awareness, therefore defeating the purpose of building a knowledge economy in the region.

In March 2006, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published a report of a study entitled “Empowering Parliaments through the use of ICTs”3 which established that the links between the three core functions of Parliaments can be enhanced through the use of ICTs to bring more credibility to Parliaments. The study highlighted the following areas which would benefit from the use of ICTs in legislation, oversight and representation:

a. ICT for public information;

b. Digital resources to assist Committees;

c. Communication and engagement via Parliament-based websites;

d. Information systems for tracking purposes;

e. ICT-based networking; and

f. Databases and intranets for monitoring executive activities’

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and its subregional office for Southern Africa based in Lusaka thus cooperated with SADC-PF and developed an ICT Strategy Framework4 for Parliaments in the SADC region. It is therefore within the framework of the SADC-PF ICT Strategy that the ICT Master Plan is being developed in response to the Terms of Reference structured to meet the individual needs of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Swaziland.

An important aspect of this assistance was to undertake an ICT situational assessment of the Parliament of Swaziland by engaging staff and Members of Parliament (MPs) in order to identify areas and types of needs that would be useful in identifying the actions required to address the situation during the development of an ICT Master Plan.

2 Parliament of the Kingdom of Swaziland

In response to the Terms of Reference, questionnaires for needs assessment were structured in accordance with the SADC-PF ICT Strategy Framework and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)5 with action lines accessing the capacity, infrastructure and applications; contribution to inclusive Information Society in Swaziland and promotion of inter-parliamentary cooperation.

The survey showed that, on average, the members of Parliament had below average access to and use of computer which would prevent them from fully advocating for ICTs in Parliament.

An in-depth assessment of this shortcoming however indicated that unavailability of infrastructure contributed to the low access and use, and that lack of awareness might be the reason why most MPs did not respond to questions.

On the basis of the survey findings, especially as regards Swaziland, consultations with all stakeholders through interviews, workshops, the SADC-PF ICT Strategy and the NICI policy, an ICT Master Plan for the Parliament of Swaziland was developed and an implementation plan elaborated to help equip MPs and Staff of Parliament with ICT skills to enable them to effectively perform their duties and enable Parliamentarians to engage in ICT issues in the country and in regional and international fora.

1.1 Background

ICT has an impact on the lives of all individuals both at home and in the community and it is essential that Parliament as an institution, Parliamentarians and other stakeholders, are helped to avail of its opportunities and understand its effects not only in their constituencies and institutions but also nationally, regionally and globally. Therefore, it is important that Parliamentarians gain appropriate skills, knowledge and understanding to have the confidence and capability to use ICT.

By improving information and communication, ICTs help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals including gender equality, universal education, poverty and hunger reduction, mother and child healthcare, combating HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability and global partnerships.

Most African Parliaments recognize the need to integrate ICTs into the Parliament even though the practical implementation of this is slow. Studies have shown the need for Parliaments in the region to develop strategies to enhance effective use of ICTs and Parliaments which have embraced the new technology already operate more efficiently. Individual representatives too have benefited from using ICT to extend their knowledge of numerous subjects and are able to better connect with their electorate or constituency. Some Parliamentarians have become effective knowledge workers, informing analysts, negotiators, communicators and proponents of regional integration.

ICTs have therefore made Parliaments and Parliamentarians more responsive to the needs of their constituencies and to be linked to the global network.

Aware of the important role played by ICTs in the attainment of developmental goals and in responding to the new information age, ECA launched the AISI1 in May 1996 to bridge the digital divide between Africa and other nations and in particular to provide effective digital opportunities for Africans and their partners as well as to speed up the continent’s entry into the global information and knowledge economy.

Since the launch of AISI, ECA has been helping member States to embark on the development of National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) policies, plans and strategies. NICI serves to develop national ICT policies and strategies and implementable programmes. It provides a guiding framework for

3ICT Master Plan

integrating ICTs into national development programmes, facilitating the inclusion and integration of Africa into the globalization process. It is also used to monitor and evaluate the role of ICTs in national development, including monitoring progress and achievements made in the Information Society.

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)2 was endorsed in two phases by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 56/1833 . The first phase took place in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003 and the second in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005.

The main objective of the first phase was to develop and foster a clear statement of political will and take concrete steps to establish the foundations for an Information Society for all, reflecting all the various interests at stake.

It provided a global platform for key players, Governments, United Nations agencies, the private sector and civil society to come together to develop a common vision and understanding of the Information Society and to adopt a Declaration and a Plan of Action.

A Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action were adopted, setting the stage for international cooperation to close the existing digital divide between developing and developed countries and involving all stakeholders in building an inclusive Information Society. Heads of State and stakeholders recognized and endorsed the need for an enabling environment based on clear policies, laws and regulatory frameworks to allow for a universal, equitable and affordable access to the knowledge-based society.

Building on what was achieved during the first phase, the second phase was held in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005. As agreed in the first Preparatory Committee meeting (PrepCom-1), the second phase was a follow-up on the implementation of the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action by stakeholders at the national, regional and international levels. Swaziland has been an active participant in the WSIS process.

The Government of Swaziland has demonstrated its commitment to an ICT-led socio-economic development process by initiating the drafting of its National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) Policy in 2006 later launched by His Excellency, the Right Honourable Prime Minister Themba Dhlamini on the 3rd of August 2007.

The Prime Minister further acknowledged his Government’s commitment to deploying ICT as a tool for development in all sectors of society and for access to information and knowledge this contributing significantly to stronger economic, social and cultural development, thus furthering the attainment of the millennium development goals (MDGs)4.

Therefore the Parliament of Swaziland needs to back up the Government’s leading efforts in introducing an ICT–based socio-economic development process with the potential of ushering the country into an information–rich, technology–driven and knowledge–based society.

1.2 The Role and Business of the Parliament of Swaziland (PoS)

The Parliament of Swaziland consists of a Senate and a House of Assembly. It has been bicameral since the country’s independence in 1968. Both Chambers were established by the Independence Constitution (1968).

The House of Assembly11 has 65 Members of Parliament, 55 of whom are directly elected from the 55 Constituencies and 10 are appointed by the Head of State. The Senate has 30 members, 10 elected by the House of Assembly and

The mission and purpose of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Swaziland are to initiate, consider and enact ICT-related legislation and to monitor its implementation in the interest and welfare of the King and People of Swaziland.


20 appointed by the King. The appointment by the Head of State is done on a rotational basis and the appointees are from among Chiefs and members of the Royal Family (categories ineligible to stand for general elections due to their social status), women, young people and members of religious groups.

The supreme legislative authority is vested in the King-in-Parliament12. The King and Parliament may make laws for the peace, order and good governance of Swaziland. Both Chambers have to approve bills before they are transmitted to His Majesty for Royal assent. Any disagreements are resolved by a joint seating of Parliament. They have equal powers to enact laws except on money bills including the Appropriation Bill for which the House of Assembly has more authority.

1.2.1 Parliamentary reforms: the Parliament of Swaziland

The Parliament of Swaziland has not had major reforms in recent years, the needs assessment analysis revealed that the present institutional framework has little infrastructure and service provision for a Parliament that needs to be more Representative, Responsive, Efficient, Effective, Accountable and Accessible, Legitimate and Linked (REAL). The Parliament of Swaziland needs ¨harnessing ICT potentials” to establish and develop a “paperless Parliament”.

The Staff and MPs however anticipate reforms in the following areas:

The Parliament of Swaziland to be an autonomous body.

The present set-up does not favour full obtention of ICT benefits. The service delivery with regard to ICT-related issues is below average as there seems to be frequent staff shortage at the Department of Computer Services which centrally controls all government ICT-related services and applications.

Formulation of

1. An ICT Department

2. A Parliament ICT Committee

Internet provision to all offices in Parliament and all constituencies. This includes provision of servers.

The Government of Swaziland has set up constituency offices in all Tinkundla Centres. Each office was provided with 1 personal computer, a telephone line and a secretary. The current problem is that some of the computers are not functioning and it takes time for technicians to come to fix them, which often deprives the constituency offices of computer use. There is no Internet connection in all the constituency offices. The Internet connection in the Parliament’ library is unreliable and hinders smooth work operations.

Providing a link between Parliament and stakeholders.

Internet connectivity makes for a Parliament that is linked and accessible to

• Local constituencies and

• The global network

The Internet will provide easy access to needed parliamentary documents from the Parliament’s library, website and more flexible modes of interaction.

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A digital library. As of now, all services are manually done except for report typing in departments.

Setting up of a Parliament Radio

• The Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS), a national radio

• Broadcasting station, has 2 slots for airing parliamentary debates. There is no live

• Radio broadcast of parliamentary sessions to the nation.

Achievement of a REAL Parliament, i.e. one that is:

• Representative and Responsive

• Efficient and Effective

• Accountable and Accessible

• Legitimate and Linked.

The constituencies should be able to access Parliament’s information through a reliable and cost-effective technology. Radio broadcasting is an essential tool to use as a radio set is easier to own at the grassroots level (with the majority of the people) than a TV set. It will enable the people to listen to live deliberations by their Members of Parliament. This will inevitably affect the quality of representation, efficiency and accountability as the MPs will be aware that the public is listening.

Setting up of a Parliament Television

The Parliament of Swaziland has 27 TV sets in its offices used for watching live broadcasts of debates in anyone of the two chambers. The TV sets are connected to one central unit for signal dissemination within the Parliament building.

This facility is an invaluable tool to the general public who are thus able to watch live broadcast of the proceedings in both chambers. However, though there is no Parliament TV per se, there is a one-hour slot once a week in the Swazi TV, for pre-recorded Parliament programmes.

Teleconferencing equipment. This facility is mandatory for a Parliament which is moving up to modernization.

Capacity building

There is currently no ICT capacity building programme for either MPs or Staff Members of Parliament. MPs are elected for a 5-year term. The last group only had a 3-day in-house ICT training workshop primarily aimed at equipping them with skills to use the available Internet café facilities such as browsing the Internet for current information on issues. The Internet café’ is a valuable resource point as the Parliament’s library is under-resourced.

The current MPs elected in 2008 and commenced work in 2009 have not been exposed to any form of ICT training to date. The Parliament of Swaziland is however planning to organize an ICT training programme. The main challenges faced by the Parliament with regard to ICT training are: bridging the gap in the literacy levels of the MPs who fall into three categories: - literate, semi-literate and illiterate.


The main funding for Parliament which comes from the Government of Swaziland is not enough to sustain capacity-building initiatives. This financial year’s budget has been cut by 14 percent for all Parliament spending. There is therefore, an urgent need to strategize and establish a cost-effective but high-standard ICT capacity-building training for the MPs and the Staff of Parliament. A certain percentage of the Parliament’s budget should be allocated to staff training.

1.2.2 The Swaziland NICI Policy

The Kingdom of Swaziland is aware of the immense potential that ICTs have in transforming the socio-economic development of the country. As an affirmation of the desire to fully use ICTs, the Government envisaged and drew up a National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) Policy, which was endorsed during a stakeholder validation workshop in January 2006. It was subsequently adopted by Cabinet in August 2006 and launched by His Excellency, the Right Honourable Prime Minister Themba Dhlamini on 3 August 2007. This demonstrates the conscious realization of the need for an ICT-led socio-economic development process with the potential of transforming the country into an information-rich, knowledge-based and technology-driven economy and society.

The foundational statement of the national policy is to achieve sustainable development in the ICT sector, establishing a self-propelling mechanism to facilitate the maximization of benefits that can be derived from ICTs in the context of national socio-economic development strategies.

Currently, Government is working on the implementation plan for the NICI policies, strategies and plans to further cement its commitment to the implementation of a number of key policy items and initiatives aimed at facilitating and speeding up development, deployment and exploitation of ICTs within the economy and the society.

The Parliamentarians as legislatures should take the lead in advocating for the exploitation of ICTs in speeding up national development and as a tool for competitive advantage in any sector of our economy.

1.3 The Context

ECA in response to the challenges of the Information age, and realizing the important role of ICTs in facilitating the attainment of development goals, launched the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) in May 1996 as a common vision not only to bridge the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world but also to provide effective digital opportunities to be developed by Africans and their partners and to speed up the continent’s entry into the global information and knowledge economy. This move was to empower Parliaments through the use of ICTs.

Since the launch of AISI, ECA has been involved in various activities to raise awareness and build capacity among policy and decision makers on key aspects of Information Society, with particular focus on Parliaments and Parliamentarians and their pivotal role in mobilizing resources, law-making, debating issues of national concern and holding Governments to account for their commitments.

Some of these activities were:

1. An ICT survey2 conducted by the SADC-PF in 2002 in cooperation with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI). This was crucial as it helped in determining the strategies and priority areas and

7ICT Master Plan

programmes for implementation. It revealed that the SADC-PF member Parliaments were facing the following challenges:

g. Lack of skills;

h. Lack of access to infrastructure within Parliaments, especially in the constituencies;

i. Non-existent or inadequate infrastructure in constituencies although basic ICT infrastructure existed in Parliament buildings; and

j. The SADC Parliamentary Forum in cooperation with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) embarked on an Information Communication Technology Assessment (ICTA) of the SADC-PF member Parliaments.

2. The 21st Plenary Assembly8 of the SADC Parliamentary Forum held at Mogale City, South Africa, from 10 to 16 November 2006, where SADC-PF endorsed the establishment of an ICT Portfolio, a structure within one of its Standing Committees, the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation and the Capacity Building Committee. A network for ICT managers of Parliaments was established and an action plan adopted. The network provided in the action plan strategies for governance and development of ICTs in Parliaments, capacity development of both MPs and staff of Parliament, enhancing parliamentary technological capacity, analyzing and learning from existing ICT studies and reports and establishing strategic partnerships and sustainability of ICT projects and networks.

3. A workshop on “Building an Inclusive Information Society in SADC Region: Making ICTs work in Parliaments”, held in February 2007 for MPs and staff of Parliaments from twelve SADC countries, a joint activity between ECA and SADC-PF.

The main objective of the workshop was to discuss strategies for involving Parliaments in building an inclusive Information Society in the region and making ICTs work in Parliaments. One of the workshop’s recommendations was ‘The development of a SADC Parliamentary Forum ICT Policy and strategy to guide the development and adoption of ICTs at the regional level and to act as a framework for the national Parliament’s consideration.

In 2008, following the survey assessment outcomes and workshop recommendations, ECA Subregional Office for Southern Africa and the ICT, Science and Technology Division (ISTD), in cooperation with SADC-PF, developed a regional SADC-PF ICT strategy, to be adopted by member Parliaments as an ICT Master Plan to guide the development and use of national ICTs.

The strategy focused on strengthening the three functions of Parliament, including the use of ICTs in Parliaments.


PART II: Rationale for the Master Plan

2.0 Overview of the current ICT status

As part of the implementation of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) and with the support of ECA the SADC-PF ICT Strategy was adopted to guide capacity building in the development of ICTs in the SADC national Parliaments. The Strategy was formulated after reviewing the current status and future plans of SADC national Parliaments, which gave light to the need to develop baselines and benchmarks for monitoring and evaluating programmes, including review of global and regional ICT programmes.

The first activity after the formulation of the SADC-PF Strategy was a workshop on “the Role of Members of Parliament in building an inclusive Information Society to accelerate the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)” organized by ECA Subregional Office for Southern Africa in cooperation with SADC-PF which was attended by key stakeholders, MPs and representatives from most SADC member States, including Swaziland.

One of the outcomes of this initial meeting was an outline of the Terms of Reference for the development of the ICT Master Plan for Parliaments and ICT Committees in Parliament.

The Terms of Reference called for adequate equipment of Members of Parliament and staff with the required Information skills to enable them to advocate for the development and use of ICTs in their Parliaments and to facilitate the engagement of Parliamentarians in ICT issues in the country.

Consequently, the Parliament of Swaziland has since taken the initiative to undertake a comprehensive needs assessment of its current ICT status, identify the needs and develop strategies and related actions to optimize the use of ICTs in Parliament and build a participative and effective Parliament that is responsive to the needs of the people.

2.1 Summary of findings – Members of Parliament, ICT Department and Parliamentary Departments Surveys (2010)

The surveys9 to asses the capacity of the Parliament to use ICTs effectively and efficiently in order to enhance its activities and improve its transparency and connection with the electorate and to build a conducive environment for dissemination and development of secure use of the national ICTs was conducted among the MPs and Staff of Parliament during January-April 2010. The surveys also evaluated the MPs and staff of Parliament’s ability to support national developmental goals and objectives, including advocating for the implementation of an inclusive Information Society in the Kingdom of Swaziland.

Three types of questionnaires were developed for the three groups in the Parliament of Swaziland (the Members of Parliament, Staff of Parliament and Heads of Departments) to assess how ICT services and applications were being undertaken.

9ICT Master Plan

The questionnaires were different in order to gather information as accurately as possible from the various data sources which had varying issues of concern such as policy and strategic issues being more of a concern to Members of Parliament, infrastructure a major concern to Heads of Departments and implementation issues (e.g. knowledge and skills and ability to use the ICT services and applications available) of outmost concern to staff members. A fourth supplementary questionnaire was administered to the department dealing with ICT issues in a bid to analyse and determine the current status of ICT infrastructure and services available in the Parliament of Swaziland.

The questionnaires were structured on the following indicators:

• Availability, general application and usage of ICT infrastructure;

• ICT services and software;

• Capacity building programmes;

• Capacity, infrastructure and application;

• Contribution to an inclusive Information Society in Swaziland; and

• Inter-parliamentary cooperation.

Analysis of the questionnaire shed light on the current state of ICT in the Parliament of Swaziland, identifying gaps which need attention.

2.1.1 Parliament of Swaziland survey findings

In the areas specified below, the surveys highlighted some inadequacies.

Capacity, Infrastructure and Application

a. Shortage of resources;

b. Very limited accessibility of the networks and use of the Internet;

c. Lack of awareness of the importance and benefits of ICT services and applications;

d. Inadequate capacity building for Members of Parliament; and

e. Poor use of the available ICT resources.

Contribution to an inclusive information society in Swaziland

a. A very small number of people seem to be aware of the existence of the ICT Policy and Strategies but not of the priority areas or the pillars of ICT policy;

b. Lack of awareness of the priorities/pillars of the national ICT policy and strategies;

c. No budget for ICT services and applications; and

d. No ICT Committee to help raise awareness about ICT benefits when properly implemented.

Promotion of ICT for Constituency development:

a. Lack of infrastructure as well as human and non-human resources;


b. Poor knowledge of and skill for ICT services and application use;

c. Lack of awareness about the importance of ICT services for national and constituency development; and

d. Lack of promotion of inter-parliamentary cooperation using ICTs.

Financing mechanism

a. Lack of funding for ICT activities in the national budget; and

b. Lack of an enabling environment for public-private partnerships and lack of incentives for private-sector participation, including tax incentives for relevant ICT4D programmes.

Promotion of inter-parliamentary cooperation through ICTs

The Parliament of Swaziland has a representative on the SADC-PF ICT Managers’ Forum responsible for the regional SADC-PF ICT Strategy and also signatory to the Charter for the African Parliamentary Knowledge Network (APKN).

2.1.2 Staff of Parliament survey findings

1. Availability of Internet and e-mail services

The analysis indicated the availability of the Internet and e-mail services to the majority of staff but with limited usage. This was attributed to lack of adequate ICT infrastructure and resources which in turn led to low capacity in the use of ICT services and applications.

2. Website accessibility by staff

The analysis highlighted a lack of awareness of the importance of using ICT facilities for effective communication. Though the majority of staff had access to the Parliament’s website, very few visited it probably because it was not very resourceful and information in it was outdated. In all, the website needs a complete overhaul and the content improved and updated regularly to attract staff and public visits.

3. General application and usage

Generally, Parliament staff use computers in their work places but to a very limited degree. This could be due to limited resources, including computer hardware and Software.

4. Capacity building

The survey also showed a lack of knowledge and skills emanating from poor ICT training and development and resulting in the majority of staff not effectively and efficiently using ICT services and applications. This might also cause poor computer technology integration in all Parliament activities to the detriment of overall productivity.

11ICT Master Plan

2.1.3 Heads of Departments Survey Findings

The Parliament of Swaziland departmental assessment for ICT requirement was supplementary to the ICT Parliamentary Survey. The Heads of Departments’ questionnaire concentrated on infrastructure, capacity and implementation of ICT services and applications. This survey was administered on seven departments, namely, Accounts, Administration, Disability, Hansard, HIV & AIDS, Library and Information as well as the Table Office.

1. Computerization level of Parliamentary Departments

The survey outcome showed a high level of computerization as the outputs from almost all Departments were mainly of a narrative, tabular and financial format, with the exception of the verbatim and the Braille. This is attributable to the type of software in use - limiting it to MS Office suite.

There is a need to establish an ICT department to support deployment and use of ICT in Parliament. An autonomous Parliament will favour diversity and widen the scope of ICT usage, including specialized training of staff to enhance their skills for effective use and maintenance of ICT hardware, reducing external dependence and equipping Parliament to be in step with modernization.

2. Departmental ICT hardware/software requirements

All Departments assessed required hardware with most requesting for an Internet connection, computers and printers or printing facilities; three required printer, scanner and server; two required voice recognition systems and cell phones, and one required a video player system, Braille embosser, intranet and data package.

A majority of the Departments requested for access to modern applications e.g. Microsoft Office 2007 as well as access to the intranet. Some also requested for specialized, specific application software systems and database applications.

3. ICT Training Requirements

The assessment of Departmental requirements for ICT training showed that all the seven departments were in dire need of computer training, ranging from basic word processing, hardware use and maintenance, to advanced programming. Some requested for capacity building programmes, software updates, training on the Internet, accounting package, designing and maintaining websites as well as troubleshooting.

The Parliament of Swaziland needs to raise the standard and level of computerization across the board, to provide more hardware and required software and to be committed to staff capacity building to increase their efficiency in performing departmental tasks and their overall effectiveness in ICT integration in office work.


PART III: The ICT Master Plan

3.0 Introduction

The 21st century has seen a marked increase in the number of countries adopting ICTs as an integral driving force in their national development plan, reaping tremendous benefits in Parliaments, business, education, health, and many other sectors.

However, the main challenge faced by most African countries in advancing implementation of their national ICT infrastructure policies, strategies and plans is political commitment, without which efforts deploying ICT and using it as a tool to speed up socio-economic development will not yield the desired results.

The way Parliament carries out its internal and external business will be highly influenced by the quality of information available to Parliamentarians, their staff and constituency administrators. Effective use of ICT requires Parliamentarians with a clear vision of how ICT is to be used to support the work of Parliament and with knowledge of their role in ICT Policy formulation, planning and monitoring at both the national and global levels.

Well-informed Parliamentarians who actively participate in national debates, mobilize resources, advocate for the budgeting of ICT at the national level, hold Government to account for commitments made, translate citizen’s needs into policies, applications and concerns are assets to the socio-economic needs of communities.

The vision of the SADC-PF ICT strategy is to support member countries’ Parliaments towards becoming delivery-focused, people-centred institutions that quicken and promote parliamentary participation in regional decision making for the benefit of the citizens of SADC.

Its overall objective is to guide the development and adoption of ICTs at the regional level, to champion the development and use of ICTs in Parliaments and to facilitate the engagement of Parliamentarians in ICT issues in member countries.

The Parliament of Swaziland ICT Master Plan is, therefore, an implementation of the SADC-PF ICT strategy at the national level.

Consequently, its development is based on the SADC-PF ICT strategy pillars and issues derived from the needs assessment survey incorporating priority areas of the National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) policy which are linked to the National Development Strategy.

It is aimed at raising awareness, harnessing the potential benefits of ICT in supporting Parliament’s basic values of transparency, accessibility, accountability and effectiveness as well as its representative, legislative and oversight functions. This way, it will help to achieve the vision of “Harnessing ICT potentials to establish and develop a paperless Parliament that is R.E.A.L.

The Plan recognizes strengths in the Parliament of Swaziland’s commitment to the important role of integration of ICT in the operations of Parliament and is a guide for solidifying the existing, sound investments in ICT and for making improvements that will ensure continued delivery of reliable services and products.

13ICT Master Plan

The ICT Master Plan for the Parliament of Swaziland is a living document that needs periodic review in response to technological innovations, evolving national priorities, industrial best practices and many other influences with impact on future trends of Information, Communication and Technology.

3.1 ICT Master Plan Objectives

The objectives are focused on closing the gaps identified and using the opportunities that exist to strategically position the Parliament of Swaziland to better deal with the issues affecting the Information Society and how best to use ICT to speed up national development goals.

The specific objectives of the Plan include:

1. Strengthening ICT Governance;

2. Strengthening Parliament’s Information and Knowledge Infrastructure;

3. Strengthening Parliament’s oversight, legislative and advocacy functions;

4. Strengthening Parliament’s involvement in national and subregional ICT policy and strategies;

5. Strengthening MPs’ involvement in ICT for community development activities;

6. Strengthening MPs’ capacity and advocacy on e-Government, e-Governance and e-democracy: Developing strategies to raise awareness within Parliaments on the practical benefits of e-Government, e-governance, e-vote and e-democracy;

7. Assessing the ICT Master Plan’s risk and suggesting a risk mitigation strategy and systems for tracking the ICT Master Plan implementation indicators;

8. Developing and implementing a resource-mobilization strategy for speeding up implementation of the Master Plan;

9. Enhancing inter-parliamentary cooperation, joint effort and knowledge sharing through the use of appropriate technology;

10. Developing a comprehensive, detailed budget and activity chronograms (short, medium and long terms) covering a period of three years.


Box 1: Benefits of ICT adoption

“First, transparency, accessibility and accountability as well as people’s participation in the democratic process largely depend on the quality of information available to members of Parliaments, parliamentary administrations, the media, the society at large and citizens’ access to parliamentary proceedings and documents. Both can be improved through ICT applications which in turn could effectively strengthen the policy-making process.

Second, the efficiency of the internal business practices of services to members and staff and the performance of the organization as a whole may affect Parliament’s effectiveness in carrying out the legislative process, its scrutiny, functions and members’ duties. Both the efficiency and effectiveness can be increased by adoption of new and sound technology coupled, if necessary, with organizational re-engineering.

Third, full participation in the emerging global information network is crucial for an institution that wants to avoid marginalization. Parliaments today are confronted with a new reality of information integration and knowledge exchange as well as an increasing demand for inter-parliamentary cooperation. That requires changing the way Parliaments act internally and the way they interact with the outside world, including through the use of ICT.

Effective use of ICT can result only from a clear vision of how they are to be used to support the work of Parliament and from, a strategic plan that sets realistic goals and applies strong management to ensure that objectives are achieved. Without political involvement in these efforts, not only would Parliaments waste resources and set up systems that fail to serve their many functions and higher goals, but they would also fail to keep pace with the evolution of society around them, thus broadening the gap between citizens and their representatives.

: World e-Parliament Report 2008

3.2 Master Plan Pillars

The areas that would need to be strengthened to ensure that Parliament adequately harnesses ICT potentials to support its basic values of transparency, accessibility, accountability and effectiveness as well as its representative, legislative and oversight functions are indicated in Figure 1. These areas fall under the following five strategic priorities or pillars upon which the ICT Master Plan is built.

1. Strengthening the ICT Institutional Governance Framework (S.I.I.F.)

2. Strengthening the ICT Infrastructure, hardware, software, human capital and systems (S.I.I.)

3. Strengthening oversight, legislative and representative function through access to adequate information and knowledge resources (S.O.L.R.F.)

4. Strengthening oversight of national ICT Policy and strategies and ICT applications towards a people-centered, development-oriented and inclusive Information Society (S.O.I.N.S.P.S.)

5. Harnessing ICT potentials to promote community/constituency development and inter-parliamentary cooperation (S.C.D.I.C.)

Each pillar comprises of several activities.

Figure 1 shows a visual framework of an ICT Master plan.

15ICT Master Plan

Figure 1. Picture frame of ICT Master Plan for Parliament

VISION

Pillars

Foundation

ICT

Inst

itutio

n

ICT

Infr

astr

uctu

re

Par

l. Fu

nctio

ns

e-S

trat

egie

s

C

onst

it. C

oop

.

To harness ICT potentials towards Parliament that is Representative, Responsive, Efficient, Effective, Accountable and Accessible, Linked and Legitimate.

An adequate Institutional framework, budget, ICT infrastructure - hardware, information system, user- friendly information and knowledge repository, well trained staff and MPs in ICT. A foundation for supporting Parliament’s basic values and its representative, legislative and oversight functions.

3.3 Policy Issues

Pillar 1: To strengthen the ICT institutional framework and internal policy

Studies have shown that institutional framework has a strong influence on the extent, adequacy, accuracy and speed of delivering information services. The effective use of ICTs remains the only feasible way of controlling and maintaining vast amounts of information required to efficiently and effectively operate an organization/institution.

As this positively affects the growth of economies, Parliaments should deploy ICTs and make them the cornerstone upon which parliamentary services and functions are built.

The institutional framework of the Parliament of Swaziland is very deficient. From the comprehensive needs assessment study undertaken, the major challenge was the lack of an internal structure such as an ICT Department or Parliamentary ICT Committee mandated to oversee the development and establishment of ICT applications and services.


Figure 2. Strengthening ICT Institutional Framework and Internal Policy

ISOP

Workshop on ISOP Submit to

Parliament for adoption

Establish ICT Committee

ICT Institutional Framework & Internal

Policy

There is no ICT strategy. The establishment of an ICT department responsible for general development, maintenance and oversight of ICT infrastructure and services and the setting-up of an ICT Committee in Parliament to support the role of Parliament and oversee implementation of the ICT Master Plan would enhance the institutions’ ability to deal with demands and challenges emanating from its stakeholders.

In general, the ICT Committee could oversee ICT projects and ensure a conducive and enabling environment for effective ICT awareness, implementation, access, usage, policy formulation and budget.

At the policy level, awareness of ICT potentials should be a heightened and strategic thinking and planning to systematically deploy ICTs increased with a view to adequately using these potentials and fully reaping from them. The Government of Swaziland is currently working to institute legal frameworks for the establishment of a communications regulatory authority and regulations body to guide the operations of various electronic communications equipment.

3.3.1. Activity 1: To develop and implement Parliamentary Information System Operation Policy (ISOP) and guidelines.

Given the absence of an ICT Department in the Parliament of Swaziland, that department would have to be established in accordance with the internal rules of Parliament. The survey highlighted the need to establish an ICT Department with an ICT Strategic Plan that would clearly take into account the Vision and Mission of the Parliament of Swaziland.

17ICT Master Plan

This activity outlines the guiding principles for a Parliamentary Information System Management to provide reliable, secure, useful, and easily-accessible information resources, information for general use, ownership, security and proprietary information, unacceptable use, system and network activities, emails, budgeting and resource mobilization mechanisms and communication activities as well as to ensure implementation. Each MP and staff member should take responsibility for the accuracy, timeliness, protection and preservation of information resources within Parliament. The ISOP will include the following components:

a. Parliament ICT Organogram;b. The ICT Committee;c. Responsibilities/functions;d. The Information system guiding principles, usage and access; ande. Security and Privacy: The Master Plan should ensure:

i) data is protected;ii) users are authenticated;iii) data confidentiality and integrity are preserved; and iv) non-repudiation is achieved.

1. The maintenance plan: i) Hardware maintenance by making available parts and back-up equipment; andii) Software with vendor support (on-site/off-site) to fix bugs/resolve problems, helpdesk/call center

support, scalability and support for system software upgrades. 2. Business continuity plan: enables critical services or products to be continually delivered to clients.3. Budgeting/Resource mobilisation processing: developing a proper cost-benefit analysis to identify

resource needs and propose a different innovative resource mobilisation strategy, including local year budget allocation, private sector involvement, bilateral and multilateral participation and Diaspora participation.

4. Monitoring and evaluation mechanism: To monitor cost-effectiveness, impacts, progress in the use of ICT in administration and parliamentary functions, learning and research, and to provide management information to empower MPs and the Parliament as a whole.

5. Risk assessment.

3.3.2 Activity 2: To organize a workshop for adoption of ISOP with emphasis on responsibilities and implementation of the monitoring and evaluation mechanism

The workshop will be organized for the Clerk of Parliament, staff, Members of Parliament and other ICT experts to discuss the rationale and feasibility of the ISOP and to update it accordingly. The final document will be presented to Parliament for final adoption.

3.3.3 Activity 3: To submit and adopt ISOP by Parliament

The document will be submitted to the Parliament of Swaziland for approval and adoption.

3.3.4 Activity 4: To establish an ICT Committee within Parliament

The main objective of the Parliament ICT Committee is to coordinate and ensure effective implementation of the ICT Master Plan. The committee could consist of a core group of MPs and Parliamentary staff with an external multi-disciplinary advisory group based on the rules of Parliament, taking into consideration the country ICT policy and strategy, the existing subregional ICT framework and other international frameworks such as the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Plan. Well-trained ICT Committee members will actively


support awareness-raising and capacity-building activities to enhance the Parliament’s ability to monitor existing policies to ensure their compliance with international, regional and continental standards and developments, lobbying for enabling ICT policy frameworks and interpreting signed regional or international ICT instruments.

This will also enhance Parliamentarians’ effective participation in ICT policy formulation, implementation and monitoring in order to achieve an inclusive, people-centred, development-oriented knowledge society; taking an active and leading role to ensure investment in ICTs by developing strategies that facilitate the provision of and access to ICTs and information for the country at large.

Lobbying for the deployment and use of ICTs in the Parliament; Providing an oversight function on ICT projects being undertaken by the executive and leading in the establishment of an appropriate enabling environment, including ICT legislative and regulatory frameworks for harnessing the potentials of ICT for socio-economic development.

Table 1: Strengthening ICT institutional framework and Internal Policy (IFIP)

Pillar 1 : To Strengthen ICT Institutional Framework and Internal Policy (IFIP)

Activities Key deliverables

Indicator of success

Means of verification

of these Indicators

Duration Resources /Inputs

Budget (US $)

Activity 1: To develop and implement Parliamentary Information System Operation Policy (ISOP) and guidelines

Parliament Information System operation Policy (ISOP) document available

Adoption by Parliament

Policy available

3 months - Financial- Human resources

40,000

Activity 2: To organize a workshop for the review and adoption of ISOP with emphasis on responsibilities and implementation of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms

Workshop organized

Reviewed ISOP documents with amendments incorporated

New ISOP report Feedback through evaluation questionnaire

3 days Financial-Human resources

50,000

Activity 3: To submit the ISOP for adoption in a Parliamentary session

ISOP document submitted and discussed at a Parliamentary session

Debate of the document during the Parliamentary session and its approval

ISOP adopted 1 week Pre-review by President of Senate, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Clerk to Parliament and Staff

No financial implications

Activity 4: To establish an ICT Committee within the Parliament

Setting-up of an ICT Committee with clear, expected outputs

ICT Committee meeting to debate on the ICT Master Plan

Reports 1 month Prior discussions Human resources

No financial implications

19ICT Master Plan

Table 2 Strengthening ICT institutional framework and Internal Policy (IFIP) – Specific Actions and Timeline

N° Activities Duration Start Finish Year 1 Year 2 Year3

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

1Identification and assembling the team to help in formulation of the ISOP

2 weeks 01/02/11

2 Formulation of the ISOP with all its components

3 Months 01/03/11

3 Vulgarization of the ISOP

3 Months 01/06/11

4 Stakeholder review workshop on ISOP

3 days 01/09/11

5 Submission and adoption of ISOP

1 week 01/10/11

6 Preparation of the ICT Committee TOR based on Parliamentary rules – by a team of Clerk staff and MPs and if possible legal advisor

1 day 08/10

7 Submission of the ICT Committee TOR to the Office of the Speaker

1 day 08/10

8 Lobbying and establishment of ICT committee

1 day 01/12/10

9Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation

To take place in September of each year for three days

by Management team

3.4 Infrastructure Development

Pillar 2: To strengthen ICT infrastructure

It is practically impossible to exploit opportunities offered by ICT and reap the corresponding benefits without appropriate technical infrastructure to provide the platform for access and delivery of applications and services.

Parliament’s infrastructure should be maintained in a condition that would facilitate communication and/or information exchange, enhance the objectives of the parliamentary functions of legislation, representation oversight and optimally managing the knowledge capital and human resources, whenever the need arises. This would enable Parliaments to ensure regular maintenance and upgrading, adopt professional security measures to provide adequate ICT support and services. Internal operations need to be sustained.

The study clearly indicated that the Parliament of Swaziland had some basic ICT infrastructure consisting mainly of desktop computers, laptops, studio and security equipment, printers, heavy duty photocopiers, scanners, a single LAN and restricted Internet connection and a leased line from Swaziland Posts and Telephone Corporation. The


studio equipment, especially microphones in both chambers, is obsolete and needs to be replaced. Maintenance is a challenge as it is outsourced from the government Computer Services Department.

Human resources play a vital part in the parliamentary functions and values. Hence the need to develop strategies for strengthening and increasing manpower quantity and quality and ICT skills-based personnel, including the marginalized groups like women and the disabled to be able to convert ICT knowledge and skills into goods and services for the benefit of Parliament and the country.

The ICT Master Plan development has three activities as illustrated in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3 Strengthening ICT Infrastructure

StrengthenICT Infrastructure

Software &ICT Services

Network &Hardware

Human Capital

3.4.1 Activity 1: To strengthen Network and Hardware Infrastructure

The main objective here is to strengthen and improve the physical connections of all networks in conference rooms and offices at the Parliament - servers, bandwidth capacity, wireless access, network security and associated hardware.

The level of network and hardware infrastructure is very low in the Parliament of Swaziland. The outcome of the needs assessment describes this as one crucial area that needs immediate attention. The infrastructure in its current state cannot adequately service the internal demands of Parliament. The survey shows that there is no Internet connection in constituencies. Although all constituency offices provided with a computer, most of these are not working due to lack of regular maintenance.

The lack of servers, even in the library where there is an Internet connection, restricts ready access to most parliamentary documents and delays crucial activities that need reference to the documents.

Establishment of ICT infrastructure facilities and services are no longer an option but a necessity in order to meet both internal and external demands of stakeholders. Government is committed to facilitating connectivity to Tinkundla Centres, community communication centres, secondary schools, all clinics, health centres and hospitals to ensure cost-effective service delivery.

21ICT Master Plan

Apart from inadequate supply of hardware, some of the equipment is obsolete and spare parts are not available.

Focus areas include:

1. Increasing broadband bandwidth.

2. Installing reliable servers – mail server, web server, information and knowledge repository servers and printer server.

3. Equipping all Parliament of Swaziland offices, sections, services and conference rooms with desktop computers, printers, scanners and other multimedia terminals and providing laptops for official use in Parliament departments/sections.

4. Availing of the heavy duty facilities like printing and photocopying.

5. Providing all Parliamentarians with individual laptops could be done in partnership with the private sector or through an organized loan scheme.

6. Providing an active, secured broadband intranet/internet connection point to all Parliamentarians, staff of Parliament and parliamentary committee offices.

7. Providing well-equipped computer rooms with high speed intranet/internet services for various uses (committee or individual).

8. Providing external Public Access point for consultation and open access to parliamentary information systems by the public; this could include multimedia voice-assisted systems.

9. Establishing a parliamentary media center.

10. Deploying wireless broadband networks.

11. Equipping all constituencies with ICT facilities to link them to Parliamentary Information Systems.

12. Establishing Parliament Radio Broadcasting services.

13. Establishing a Video Conferencing system.

14. Establishing Parliament TV broadcasting.

3.4.1.1 Local Area Network (LAN).

The LAN, as indicated by the survey, connects about twenty-two (22) offices, mainly the senior officers in the various Parliament Departments. It also connects Parliament to all other Government Departments and facilitates access to essential centrally provided services, like Internet and accounting software.

This service could be expanded, monitored and managed to provide ICT services to the rest of the staff members. Video conferencing facility is not available. The constituency offices have no Internet connection. It is, therefore, imperative that a Virtual Corporate Network (VCN) be implemented with the help of the Mobile Phone Providers (MPP). This would connect all the parliamentary constituency offices (unlike the GRPS modem system), thereby enhancing service delivery to them.


Figure 4: Virtual private Network Overview 10/

Internet VPN

Regional Office

Regional Office

Remote / roaming users

Internet

Head Office

3.4.1.2 Broadcasting and Infrastructure

Broadcasting by Radio or TV is invaluable as a form of linking the public to proceedings at the Parliament chambers. The benefits are tremendous as they cover every person (tourist, citizens, MPs who could not make it to the chambers) in the country, given the existence of coverage and good signal reception.

3.4.1.2.1 Parliament Radio

There is no infrastructure for radio broadcasting in Parliament. The Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS), a national radio broadcasting station whose radio broadcasts coverage is currently 95 percent in terms of the country’s geographic coverage by FM signals through terrestrial means, has two slots for airing pre-recorded parliamentary debates. Though half a loaf is better than none, this cannot satisfy the stakeholder demands for access to live broadcasts.

The Parliament of Swaziland must consider investing in setting up a radio station for live broadcast of parliamentary events and sessions to make constituencies feel they are part of the legislative process. The representative function will also be enhanced as Parliamentarians will be aware that their constituencies are listening, and this will promote good governance.

3.4.1.2.2 Parliament Television

The national TV has a one-hour once-a-week slot for airing pre-recorded parliamentary debates. The TV coverage is currently 60 percent of the country. Parliament TV is vital and now obligatory to give the public a wider choice of participating in the country’s democratic process.

23ICT Master Plan

Tab

le 3

Str

eng

then

ing

Har

dw

are

and

Net

wo

rkin

g In

fras

truc

ture

Act

ivit

y 1:

Str

eng

then

ing

Net

wo

rkin

g a

nd H

ard

war

e In

fras

truc

ture

Sub

act

ivit

ies

Key

del

iver

able

sIn

dic

ato

r o

f su

cces

sM

eans

of

veri

ficat

ion

of

thes

e In

dic

ato

rs

Dur

atio

n R

eso

urce

s B

udg

et(U

S $

)

Incr

ease

bro

adb

and

ban

dw

idth

.an

d g

ener

al c

ablin

g, s

witc

hes

and

rou

ter

cap

acity

and

per

form

ance

if n

eed

ed

Sub

scrip

tion

to h

igh-

spee

d

Inte

rnet

ban

dw

idth

and

d

eplo

ymen

t of

ad

vanc

ed

netw

ork

dev

ices

Imp

rove

d n

etw

ork

spee

dQ

ualit

y of

in

form

atio

n 1

mon

th•

Fina

nces

•Tr

aini

ng•

Hum

an

reso

urce

•S

ervi

ce

Pro

vid

er

8,00

0.00

Inst

all r

elia

ble

net

wor

k se

rver

s, m

ail s

erve

r, w

eb s

erve

r, in

form

atio

n an

d k

now

led

ge

rep

osito

ry s

erve

rs, p

rinte

r se

rver

;

Vario

us o

r m

ulti-

serv

ices

se

rver

s ac

qui

red

Imp

rove

d N

etw

ork

func

tiona

lity

and

In

form

atio

n sy

stem

s se

rvic

es

Acq

uisi

tion

of

equi

pm

ent

and

us

er fe

edb

ack

1 ye

ar

•S

ame

as

abov

e80

,000

.00

Eq

uip

pin

g al

l Par

liam

ent

of S

waz

iland

of

fices

, sec

tions

, ser

vice

s, c

onfe

renc

e ro

oms

with

des

ktop

, prin

ter,

scan

ners

, ot

her

mul

timed

ia t

erm

inal

s

Mor

e c

omp

uter

s, p

rinte

rs,

scan

ners

eq

uip

men

t in

stal

led

as

per

cur

rent

nee

ds

Acc

ess

for

all

bec

omes

a r

ealit

y in

P

arlia

men

t

Acq

uisi

tion

of

equi

pm

ent

and

us

er fe

edb

ack

1 ye

ar

•S

ame

as

abov

e85

0,00

0.00

Pro

vid

ing

all P

arlia

men

taria

ns w

ith

ind

ivid

ual l

apto

ps-

cou

ld b

e d

one

in

par

tner

ship

with

the

priv

ate

sect

or o

r th

roug

h th

e P

arlia

men

t G

uara

ntee

sch

eme;

Lap

top

pro

gram

dev

elop

ed

and

est

ablis

hed

Lap

top

s ac

qui

red

fo

r M

Ps

Acq

uisi

tion

of

equi

pm

ent

and

us

er fe

edb

ack

3 m

onth

s •

Sam

e as

ab

ove

55,0

00.0

0

Pro

vid

ing

an a

ctiv

e, s

ecur

ed b

road

ban

d

intr

anet

/inte

rnet

con

nect

ion

poi

nt t

o al

l P

arlia

men

taria

ns, s

taff

of p

arlia

men

t an

d

par

liam

enta

ry c

omm

ittee

offi

cers

;

Bro

adb

and

Inte

rnet

con

nect

ion

dep

loye

d w

here

nec

essa

ry

Acc

ess

for

All

bec

omes

a r

ealit

y A

cqui

sitio

n of

eq

uip

men

t an

d

user

feed

bac

k

Six

mon

ths

•S

ame

as

abov

e20

,000

.00

Pro

vid

ing

exte

rnal

Pub

lic A

cces

s p

oint

fo

r co

nsul

tatio

n an

d o

pen

acc

ess

to

Par

liam

ent’s

info

rmat

ion

syst

em; t

his

coul

d

incl

ude

mul

timed

ia v

oice

-ass

iste

d s

yste

m;

The

user

s of

the

PA

P c

an:

•ac

cess

Inte

rnet

and

the

dig

ital v

ersi

ons

of t

he p

ublic

atio

ns k

ept

at t

he N

atio

nal

Lib

rary

•

acce

ss t

o t

he in

form

atio

n re

sour

ces

of

the

Par

liam

ent

•p

artic

ipat

e in

dis

cuss

ing

legi

slat

ive

initi

ativ

es, r

evie

wed

law

and

am

end

men

ts

•ac

cess

onl

ine

cons

ulta

tions

from

ex

per

ts fr

ee o

f cha

rge

com

mun

icat

ion

thro

ugh

lett

ers,

mem

os, .

Pub

lic a

cces

s P

oint

cre

ated

N

umb

er o

f use

rsS

tatis

tics

of

usag

e b

ased

on

tool

inst

alle

d a

nd

feed

bac

k re

por

ts

6 m

onth

s•

Fina

nces

•Tr

aini

ng•

Hum

an

reso

urce

•S

ervi

ce

Pro

vid

er

150,

000.

00


Act

ivit

y 1:

Str

eng

then

ing

Net

wo

rkin

g a

nd H

ard

war

e In

fras

truc

ture

Sub

act

ivit

ies

Key

del

iver

able

sIn

dic

ato

r o

f su

cces

sM

eans

of

veri

ficat

ion

of

thes

e In

dic

ato

rs

Dur

atio

n R

eso

urce

s B

udg

et(U

S $

)

Pro

vid

e a

par

liam

enta

ry m

edia

Cen

ter

Med

ia C

ente

r d

with

com

put

er

and

Inte

rnet

con

nect

ion

Num

ber

of u

sers

Sta

tistic

s of

us

age

bas

ed o

n to

ol in

stal

led

and

fe

edb

ack

rep

orts

One

yea

rS

ame

as a

bov

e30

,000

.00

Dep

loyi

ng w

irele

ss b

road

ban

d n

etw

orks

W

irele

ss fa

cilit

ies

inst

alle

d a

nd

oper

atio

nal

Num

ber

of u

sers

Sta

tistic

s a

nd

feed

bac

k re

por

tsO

ne y

ear

Sam

e as

ab

ove

60,0

00.0

0

Eq

uip

pin

g al

l con

stitu

enci

es w

ith

info

rmat

ion

tech

nolo

gy fa

cilit

ies

to li

nk

them

to

Par

liam

enta

ry In

form

atio

n sy

stem

s-

Incl

udin

g, c

omm

unity

rad

io, v

oice

-ass

iste

d

equi

pm

ent,

com

mun

ity c

yber

cen

ter

or

othe

r.

All

cons

titue

ncie

s eq

uip

ped

N

umb

er o

f use

rsS

tatis

tics

and

fe

edb

ack

rep

orts

Thre

e ye

ars

Sam

e as

ab

ove

1.3M

Str

engt

hen

Net

wor

k m

onito

ring

and

S

ecur

ityN

etw

ork

Mon

itorin

g an

d

Man

agem

ent

tool

s in

stal

led

Red

uctio

n in

ne

twor

k in

cid

ents

an

d a

bus

e

Rep

orts

and

IT

aud

it1

year

Sam

e as

ab

ove

40,0

00

Est

ablis

hing

a P

arlia

men

t R

adio

bro

adca

stin

g se

rvic

esP

arlia

men

t R

adio

tra

nsm

issi

on

equi

pm

ent

inst

alle

d a

nd

com

mis

sion

ed

Rec

eptio

n of

rad

io

bro

adca

st

feed

bac

k fr

om t

he

pub

lic a

nd p

hysi

cal

insp

ectio

n

6 m

onth

sE

xper

t se

rvic

es

invo

lvem

ent

Fina

nces

Est

ablis

hing

a V

ideo

Con

fere

ncin

g fa

cilit

y

Vid

eo c

onfe

renc

ing

faci

lity

dep

loye

d U

se o

f vi

deo

co

nfer

enci

ng P

hysi

cal

insp

ectio

n6

mon

ths

-Eq

uip

men

t-E

-lea

rnin

g 2

00,0

00

Est

ablis

hing

a P

arlia

men

t TV

bro

adca

stin

g ne

twor

k P

arlia

men

t TV

bro

adca

stin

g

equi

pm

ent

inst

alle

d a

nd

com

mis

sion

ed

Gen

eral

Pub

lic

view

ing

live

p

arlia

men

tary

TV

b

road

cast

Feed

bac

k fr

om

the

pub

lic a

nd

phy

sica

l ins

pec

tion

4 m

onth

s-E

qui

pm

ent

-Fin

anci

al

reso

urce

s

300

,000

25ICT Master Plan

Table 4 Strengthening Hardware and Networking Infrastructure – Implementation Plan


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

1 Procurement of servers, laptops and PCs (preparation of invitation to bid document - procurement )

6Months

04/01/11 01/11/11

2 Increasing the Bandwidth process-cabling improving- switched and router procurement and wireless equipment installed

3 months 01/04/11

3 Setting up a computer room assignment Plan and media Center

3 months 01/04/11

4 Identifying private sector to be involved in laptop-for-all activity and agree on the framework

3 months 01/04/11

5 Starting implementation of laptop-for-all programmes

01/04/11

6 Drafting related document for Public Access Point; identify the space, undertake procurement process, acquire and install the equipment

1 year 01/04/11

7 Setting up CCTV for distribution of video signal within parliamentary buildings• Procurement

equipment• Installation and

commissioning

6Months

01/04/11

8 Setting up a Parliament Radio Broadcasting Infrastructure• Feasibility study to

determine areas not currently covered

• Procuring equipment• Install equipment• Testing and

commissioning

1 Years

01/08/11

9 Setting up Video Conferencing facility

1 year 01/04/11

10 Setting up a Parliament TV broadcasting system

6 months 01/11/11

11 Developing a constituencies IT programme Identifying partner- Implementing the programme

2 years 01/03/11


Fig

ure

5: Im

pro

ving

So

ftw

are

and

ICT

Ser

vice

s

Gen

eral

So

ftw

are

&IC

TS

ervi

ces

Mai

l & W

ebsi

te: G

ener

al,

Co

mm

itte

e &

Per

sonn

al&

Cit

izen

s In

tera

ct t

oo

ls

Ad

min

istr

ativ

eA

pp

licat

ions

DM

sys

tem

s- L

ibra

ry

and

Res

earc

h to

ol

Valu

e

Sp

ecifi

cs

Ap

plic

atio

ns

ICT

Ser

vice

s

Offi

ce s

uite

wor

d pr

oces

sor

and

othe

rs, H

elp

desk

util

ities

and

tu

toria

l

Leg

isla

tive

app

licat

ions

: Leg

al a

nd J

udic

iary

dat

abas

es, o

nlin

e pu

blic

sur

veys

.(P

lena

ry d

ocs,

bills

man

agem

ent,

jour

nal,

cale

ndar

s, s

tatu

te, c

ompi

latio

n)R

epre

sent

ativ

e ap

plic

atio

ns :

Emai

ls, B

acko

ffice

, web

site

, ele

ctro

nic

bulle

tins,

blo

gs, p

erso

naliz

ed w

ebsi

tes

and

web

cast

ing.

Web

-bas

ed p

arlia

men

tary

out

reac

h to

pub

lic a

cces

s po

ints

, par

liam

enta

ry w

ebsi

te h

olds

e-d

ialo

gues

with

the

publ

ic

(Util

ities

for

the

publ

ic, c

onst

ituen

t com

mun

icat

ion

tool

, A

rchi

ve, f

inan

cial

dis

clos

ure)

.O

vers

ight

ap

plic

atio

ns: S

tatis

tics

and

soci

al d

atab

ases

..lin

ks to

gov

. Dat

a ba

ses,

intr

anet

s, (A

pplic

atio

n to

sup

port

hea

rings

, ot

her

polic

y se

ttin

g a

nd s

crut

iny

docu

men

t)

Mem

bers

and

Sta

ff e-

mai

l acc

ount

sW

ebsi

te fo

r th

e P

arlia

men

tIn

tera

ctiv

e W

ebsi

te (p

ages

) for

the

publ

ic M

embe

r w

ebsi

teC

omm

ittee

web

site

Acc

ount

ing/

Pay

roll

Fisc

al a

naly

sis

Pla

nnin

g &

Pro

ject

Man

agem

ent

Hum

an r

esou

rces

IT H

elp

Des

k se

rvic

e, fu

ll e-

serv

ices

Web

page

s up

date

(inc

ludi

ngP

arlia

men

t, M

embe

r, P

ublic

w

ebpa

ges)

Use

r co

ntin

uous

trai

ning

Har

dwar

e an

d S

oftw

are

mai

nten

ance

and

upgr

ade

Sys

tem

adm

inis

trat

ion

App

licat

ion

deve

lopm

ent

Ass

ista

nce

for

perio

d N

ewsl

ette

r pu

blic

atio

n -

Sec

urity

Man

agem

ent

Sys

tem

of f

ast-

trac

k do

cum

ent

prep

arat

ion

and

dist

ribut

ion

Kno

wle

dge

Man

agem

ent p

orta

l Arc

hivi

ng –

do

cum

ent r

epos

itory

org

aniz

ed b

y

Them

atic

rel

evan

ce to

Par

liam

ent

func

tions

, nor

mat

ive

acts

, boo

ks,

new

slet

ters

, new

spap

er, d

ictio

narie

s,

Virt

ual l

ibra

ry A

dapt

ed a

pplic

atio

ns

for:

Bill

draf

ting,

Am

endi

ng le

gisl

atio

nM

inut

es

Sys

tem

s fo

r au

dio

and

vide

o st

ream

ing,

27ICT Master Plan

3.4.2. Activity 2: To Improve Software and ICT Services

The objective of this section is to improve the tools and applications used by both the Members and Staff of Parliament to perform their functions, by addressing the challenges, inadequacies and weaknesses identified. The survey shows some of the major challenges for Parliamentarians as lack of awareness of the opportunities and benefits of ICT deployment and inadequate computer training which limits proper use of the available ICT resources resulting in lack of integration of ICT services and applications into office work.

3.4.2.1 Applications software

Furthermore, the staff and MPs use MS Office for general purpose applications and most of the specialized applications are not available for Parliament’s use although some can be accessed from an external Government central point.

Website Design

The Parliament’s webpage needs upgrading to a highly interactive website with online forums and blogs, incorporating themes on the vision, mission and functions of Parliament, with relevant content that addresses the information needs of the current consumer society. The new website would require periodic updating by relevant qualified staff.

The Parliament of Swaziland should consider acquiring the following services as they are currently not available.

Virtual Library, Research Tools

This facility is not available. The Parliament of Swaziland should consider improving connectivity to the Library and availing of access to research tools and online materials. Subscription to selected international journals, parliamentary libraries and other relevant databases will open a wealth of information to support MPs, Parliamentary Committees, Staff and other users for references, research services, legislative summaries, research papers and subject-based bibliographies.

Legislative Systems

Incorporates a workflow for question processing, agenda of the House (order paper), Bills, and Committee papers, tracking of government assurances and debates and proceedings (Hansard).

Help Desk

Increased use of ICT in Parliament would require efficient and effective support to users. This requires equipping ICT services with a help desk software to help manage requests efficiently. Tracking emails and phone calls become easier when requests are managed with several automated processes like request routing and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the Parliament’s intranet.

File Tracking System

Implementation of a comprehensive File Tracking system would save filing labour, file searching time, prevent files from vanishing, keep items secure from unauthorized eyes, automate file creation, allow for searching, requesting and many more features. This would eventually result in document imaging for limiting the amount of paper in the workplace and for electronic forms, explanation of benefits and faster workflow in organizations.


Travel Management System

Provides access to whole-of-Parliament supply arrangements for: domestic air travel, international air travel and accommodation; also manages, travel policy compliance, travel approvals, travel entitlements and acquittals and expense reconciliation. An extensive suite of travel management reports would be provided in the Travel Management System to allow individual officials access to a wide range of travel data not previously available.

Security Management System

Since manually gathered data cannot yield a highly accurate security analysis, a Security Management System in a managerial platform format needs to be established to provide administration, configuration, monitoring and reporting, thus allowing for timely decisions to ensure good security.

Document Management System

In any institution where large volumes of documents containing valuable information are produced, a system is required to systematically and securely manage the information. A document management system brings about numerous innovative features that allow streamlining of document management processes and also provides for an effective and easy-to-use solution to document and information disarray.

29ICT Master Plan

Tab

le 5

Str

eng

then

ing

So

ftw

are

and

ICT

Ser

vice

s Act

ivit

y 2:

Imp

rovi

ng S

oft

war

e an

d IC

T S

ervi

ces

Sub

– a

ctiv

itie

sK

ey d

eliv

erab

les

Ind

icat

or

of

succ

ess

Mea

ns o

f ve

rific

atio

n o

f th

ese

Ind

icat

ors

Dur

atio

n R

eso

urce

s B

udg

et E

stim

ate

(US

$)

Gen

eral

So

ftw

are

Ap

plic

atio

ns

Offi

ce s

uite

s, w

ord

p

roce

ssor

and

oth

er

Wid

ely

inst

alle

d-

upgr

ade

Imp

rove

d d

ata

man

agem

ent

Feed

bac

k re

por

ts6 m

onth

sH

uman

and

Fina

ncia

l re

sour

ces

10,0

00.0

0

Hel

p D

esk

and

sof

twar

e tu

toria

l U

tiliti

esIn

stal

led

Imp

rove

d s

oftw

are

help

des

k

serv

ice

and

sel

f-tr

aini

ng

Rep

orts

6 m

onth

sH

uman

and

Fina

ncia

l re

sour

ces

Incl

ude

in t

he 1

st

activ

ity

Ad

min

istr

ativ

e A

pp

licat

ions

Trav

el M

anag

emen

t S

yste

mTM

S in

stal

led

Imp

rove

d m

onito

ring/

trav

el

arra

ngem

ents

rep

orts

6 mon

ths

Hum

an a

ndFi

nanc

ial r

esou

rces

20,

000

Flee

t M

anag

emen

tFl

eet

Man

agem

ent

Sys

tem

Imp

rove

d m

anag

emen

t of

veh

icle

s an

d

asso

ciat

ed s

ervi

ces

rep

orts

6 mon

ths

Hum

an a

ndFi

nanc

ial r

esou

rces

20,0

00

Mai

l and

Web

site

Ser

vice

s

Em

ail f

or A

ll im

ple

men

ted

an

d t

este

d

Em

ail a

ccou

nts

(with

P

arlia

men

t d

omai

n na

me)

op

ened

for

all

Par

liam

enta

rians

and

P

arlia

men

t st

aff .

Em

ail

acco

unts

op

ened

for

med

ia

club

and

Pub

lic a

cces

s P

oint

us

ers

Em

ail a

ccou

nts

wid

ely

used

R

epor

ts a

nd S

tatis

tics

tool

s3

mon

ths

Hum

an r

esou

rces

Incl

ude

in t

he a

bov

e su

b-

activ

ity N

one

Web

site

Up

grad

eN

ew W

ebsi

te w

ith n

ew

feat

ures

com

mis

sion

edIn

crea

sed

tra

ffic

to t

he

web

site

Use

r fe

edb

ack

and

tra

ffic

logs

, web

cou

nter

3 mon

ths

Hum

an a

nd

finan

cial

re

sour

ces

30,0

00

Est

ablis

hing

web

site

s fo

r al

l com

mitt

ees

Par

liam

enta

ry c

omm

ittee

s w

eb p

orta

l op

ened

W

idel

y us

edS

tatis

tics

and

feed

bac

k re

por

ts3

mon

ths

Hum

an a

nd

finan

cial

re

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uced

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31ICT Master Plan

Act

ivit

y 2:

Imp

rovi

ng S

oft

war

e an

d IC

T S

ervi

ces

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ctiv

itie

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n R

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et E

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d s

tatis

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ple

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n an

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mai

nten

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king

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ent

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tem

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anet

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et u

p a

nd

runn

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ber

of u

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ctro

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letin

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elop

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ctro

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letin

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ber

of u

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d fe

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ack

rep

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4-6

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ths

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esou

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er s

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licat

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t S

tatis

tics/

rep

ort

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yea

r H

uman

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tem

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alle

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pro

ved

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ent

of s

ecur

ity in

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ents

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ting

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orts

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erat

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ths

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an a

ndFi

nanc

ial r

esou

rces

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000

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liam

ent

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spap

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e-ne

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ette

r N

ewsp

aper

and

e-n

ewsl

ette

r op

erat

iona

l N

umb

er o

f Use

rS

tatis

tics

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onth

sH

uman

and

Fina

ncia

l res

ourc

es 25

,000

.00

ICT

Hel

p D

esk

serv

ice

and

ful

l e-s

ervi

cee-

serv

ice

oper

atio

nal

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rove

d IC

T as

sist

ance

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tistic

s-re

sulti

ng fr

om

feed

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6 m

onth

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res

ourc

es10

,000

.00


Table 6: Improving Software and ICT Services - Implementation Plan

No Sub-activities Duration Start Finish Year 1 Year 2 Year3Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

1 General software applications up grade

3 months 01/02/11

2 Implementing email for all programmes

1 year 01/02/11

3 Upgrading websites 1 year 01/02/114 Procurement /installation of

specialized software for bill drafting, amending legislation and minutes

1 year 01/01/11

5 Installing Legislative Systems 6 months 01/01/116 Installing and commissioning

of Virtual Library and Research Tools

6 months 01/04/11

7 Installing and commissioning of a Help Desk

6 months 01/04/11

8 Installing and commissioning of a File Tracking System

6 months

9 Contact Directory 6 months10 Establishing Collaboration

Tools3 months

11 Document Management 6 months 01/10/1112 Installing and commissioning

of a Knowledge Management System

6 months 01/08/11

13 To establish an Enterprise Resource Planning system

6 months 01/01/12

14 Security Management System 6 months 01/01/1115 Installing and commissioning

of a Travel Management System

6 months 01/04/12

16 Installing of a Fleet Management System

6 months 01/07/12

3.4.3 Activity 3: Human Capital Infrastructure

An improved human capital infrastructure is essential for the development, management and use of ICT applications and services. One of the greatest challenges in ICT departments has been the lack of skilled and competent staff capable of optimally using ICT applications. In order to improve the quality of ICT governance, the Parliament of Swaziland should focus on developing and implementing innovative strategies for retaining skilled and competent staff.

For the Parliament of Swaziland, the human capital infrastructure when developed would be the technical and administrative support staff, library and information staff, Members of Parliament and ICT Committee members.

The survey results show that the majority of staff members had access to ICT services and applications, but six of the seven departments required ICT training in ‘basics of computer’ and ‘more computer knowledge’ and five required Internet training. On the other hand, majority of the MPs had no access to computers and were not very

33ICT Master Plan

knowledgeable and skilled. This calls for systematic and regular capacity building ICT initiatives, especially in view of the rapid changes in the ICT environment.

3.4.3.1 Parliament Technical staff

As the use of ICT grows, so does the need for regular maintenance of equipment, new software upgrades, implementation of new and better performance technical equipment. and Parliament becoming increasingly dependent upon its technical staff for unimpeded service delivery. Thus, Parliament must be able to attract and retain good technical support staff by offering attractive conditions of service, regular in-house training and new opportunities for career development.

Since the Parliament of Swaziland does not have an ICT department and all major ICT services and applications are externally provided, the establishment of such a department should be accompanied by continuous and specialized training, linked to specific responsibilities, for staff responsible for ICT operations and ICT applications, respectively.

3.4.3.2 Library and Information staff

This department should be accorded special attention as it is responsible for promoting easy access to key information resources inside the legislature, from Government and from a variety of outside sources. The department among other things is responsible for maintaining a permanent digital archive, acquiring documents, disseminating information, conducting research and preparing reports. Regular ICT training should be provided in the various systems deployed and a digital library system installed to meet the currently need.

3.4.3.3 Members of Parliament

Given that the emerging information and knowledge economy is generating opportunities in all sectors and Parliaments are well placed to promote openness, transparency and a stronger democratic participation by providing citizens with information about Parliaments an e-Parliament should be developed.

The use of ICTs not only extends Parliament to the people but also addresses the challenges of globalization by enabling MPs to think beyond their immediate national boundaries.

The slow adoption of ICTs in Parliaments can be attributed to lack of skills and of appreciation of the benefits of using ICTs. In order to fully use and reap the benefits of ICTs, there is a need to build the capacity, especially usage skills, of Parliaments and to ensure access to facilities. More needs to be done to ensure effective training in order to raise awareness within Parliament about the practical benefits of ICT for good governance and for improving democratic processes, developing and strengthening the capacity of staff to use ICT to access information, automate documentation and package knowledge.

3.4.3.4 ICT Committee Members

The Parliament ICT Committee members are to coordinate and ensure effective implementation of the ICT Master Plan. They are essential for lobbying for the deployment and use of ICTs in Parliament; overseeing ICT projects being undertaken by the executive and leading the establishment of an appropriate enabling environment, including ICT legislative and regulatory frameworks for harnessing the potentials of ICT for socio-economic development.


Thus, all members of the ICT committee should be given special training and sensitized on all ICT services and policy formulation, implementation and monitoring, including policy development, identification of priority development areas or pillars and sectoral policies drawn from Pillars, ICT legislation, e-applications such as e-security, e-Governance, e-health, e-education, e-services and e-community development. The financial implications of this special training should be considered.

Special attention should be given to finding an appropriate financing mechanism for effective national policy implementation, the legislative and regulatory environment needed for promoting FDI in ICTs, harnessing the value of effective public-private partnership and enhancing the potentials of the local private sector.

Well trained ICT Committee members will actively support awareness-raising and capacity- building activities to enhance the capacity of Parliament to monitor existing policies ensuring that they comply with international, regional and continental standards and developments, lobbying for appropriate ICT policy frameworks and interpreting signed regional or international ICT instruments. This will also enhance Parliamentarians’ effective participation in ICT policy formulation, implementation and monitoring for an inclusive, people-centred and development-oriented knowledge society. They will thus take an active part and play a leading role in ensuring investment in ICTs by developing strategies that facilitate access to ICTs and information for the country.

3.4.3.5 Administrative Staff

The staff of Parliament should be aware of Parliament’s functions and the overall document management process. Specialized and continuous training is also required to further develop skills and ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the institution.

3.4.3.6 Outsourcing of ICT activities

ICT maintenance is done by the Department of Computer Services. The survey revealed that no ICT-related services were directly outsourced by Parliament during the past year.

35ICT Master Plan

Tab

le 7

: H

uman

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ital I

nfra

stru

ctur

e

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ivit

y 3:

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eng

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an C

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g o

n b

uild

ing

a p

eop

le c

entr

ed, d

evel

op

men

t o

rien

ted

, inc

lusi

ve k

now

led

ge

soci

ety


Act

ivit

y 3:

Str

eng

then

ing

Hum

an C

apit

al In

fras

truc

ture

Sub

-act

ivit

ies

Key

del

iver

able

sIn

dic

ato

r o

f su

cces

sM

eans

of

veri

ficat

ion

of

thes

e In

dic

ato

rsD

urat

ion

Res

our

ces

Bud

get

Imp

lem

entin

g an

d

trai

ning

of t

rain

ers

on

EC

A “

ICTs

ess

entia

ls fo

r G

over

nmen

t le

ader

s”

on-l

ine

Pla

tfor

m

On-

line

Trai

ning

mod

ules

inst

alle

d

and

tra

iner

s tr

aine

d

Incr

ease

d

Kno

wle

dge

and

ab

ility

to

trai

n ot

her

Tra

iner

s p

erfo

rman

ce a

pp

rais

alC

ontin

uous

EC

A s

upp

ort

Non

fina

ncia

l im

plic

atio

n

ICT

and

MD

GS

Tr

aini

ng m

odul

es d

evel

oped

/av

aila

ble

and

imp

lem

ente

dIn

crea

sed

K

now

led

ge o

f tr

aine

es

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usE

CA

sup

por

t N

on fi

nanc

ial

imp

licat

ion

ICT

Pol

icy

and

S

trat

egie

s fo

rmul

atio

n,

imp

lem

enta

tion

in

Sw

azila

nd

Trai

ning

mod

ules

dev

elop

ed/

avai

lab

le a

nd im

ple

men

ted

Incr

ease

d

Kno

wle

dge

of

trai

nees

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usE

CA

sup

por

t N

on fi

nanc

ial

imp

licat

ion

e-G

over

nmen

t,

m-G

over

nmen

t a

nd

e-G

over

nanc

e:

chal

leng

es a

nd

opp

ortu

nitie

s –

imp

lem

enta

tion

stag

es

Trai

ning

mod

ules

dev

elop

ed/

avai

lab

le a

nd im

ple

men

ted

Incr

ease

d

Kno

wle

dge

of

trai

nees

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usO

utso

urci

ng

Fina

nce

Hum

an R

esou

rce

10,0

00.0

0

ICT

and

goo

d

Gov

erna

nce:

G

over

nmen

t In

form

atio

n sy

stem

s,P

ublic

info

rmat

ion

syst

ems,

O

pen

ing

acce

ss t

o P

ublic

Info

rmat

ion

syst

emIm

pro

ving

pub

lic

exp

end

iture

m

anag

emen

t,

dec

entr

aliz

ed p

lann

ing

an

d m

onito

ring

syst

ems

Trai

ning

mod

ules

dev

elop

ed/

avai

lab

le a

nd im

ple

men

ted

Incr

ease

d

Kno

wle

dge

of

trai

nees

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usO

utso

urci

ng

Fina

nce

Hum

an R

esou

rce

10,0

00.0

0

e-d

emoc

racy

ap

plic

atio

ns: c

halle

nges

an

d o

pp

ortu

nitie

s fo

r A

fric

a

Trai

ning

mod

ules

dev

elop

ed/

avai

lab

le a

nd im

ple

men

ted

Incr

ease

d

Kno

wle

dge

of

trai

nees

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usO

utso

urci

ng

Fina

nce

Hum

an R

esou

rce

10,0

00.0

0/ye

ar

e-ag

ricul

ture

, m

-agr

icul

ture

Tr

aini

ng m

odul

es d

evel

oped

/av

aila

ble

and

imp

lem

ente

dIn

crea

sed

K

now

led

ge o

f tr

aine

es

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usO

utso

urci

ng

Fina

nce

Hum

an R

esou

rce

10,0

00.0

0/ye

ar

37ICT Master Plan

Act

ivit

y 3:

Str

eng

then

ing

Hum

an C

apit

al In

fras

truc

ture

Sub

-act

ivit

ies

Key

del

iver

able

sIn

dic

ato

r o

f su

cces

sM

eans

of

veri

ficat

ion

of

thes

e In

dic

ato

rsD

urat

ion

Res

our

ces

Bud

get

Cyb

erla

w:IC

T le

gal

fram

ewor

kTr

aini

ng m

odul

es d

evel

oped

/av

aila

ble

and

imp

lem

ente

dIn

crea

sed

K

now

led

ge o

f tr

aine

es

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usO

utso

urci

ng

Fina

nce

Hum

an R

esou

rce

10,0

00.0

0/ye

ar

e-co

mm

erce

, m

-com

mer

ce,

e-si

gnat

ure,

e-

tran

sact

ion

and

le

gisl

atio

n

Trai

ning

mod

ules

dev

elop

ed/

avai

lab

le a

nd im

ple

men

ted

Incr

ease

d

Kno

wle

dge

of

trai

nees

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usO

utso

urci

ng

Fina

nce

Hum

an R

esou

rce

10,0

00.0

0/ye

ar

ICT

skill

s/ca

pac

ity

for

the

know

led

ge

econ

omy

and

pol

icy

inte

rven

tion

Trai

ning

mod

ules

dev

elop

ed/

avai

lab

le a

nd im

ple

men

ted

Incr

ease

d

Kno

wle

dge

of

trai

nees

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usO

utso

urci

ng

Fina

nce

Hum

an R

esou

rce

10,0

00.0

0/ye

ar

Pub

lic-P

rivat

e p

artn

ersh

ip c

halle

nge

and

ena

blin

g en

viro

nmen

t fo

r p

rom

otin

g FD

I

Trai

ning

mod

ules

dev

elop

ed/

avai

lab

le a

nd im

ple

men

ted

Incr

ease

d

Kno

wle

dge

of

trai

nees

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usO

utso

urci

ng

Fina

nce

Hum

an R

esou

rce

10,0

00.0

0/ye

ar

Ena

blin

g en

viro

nmen

t fo

r IC

T, R

&D

Trai

ning

mod

ules

dev

elop

ed/

avai

lab

le a

nd im

ple

men

ted

Incr

ease

d

Kno

wle

dge

of

trai

nees

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usO

utso

urci

ng

Fina

nce

Hum

an R

esou

rce

10,0

00.0

0/ye

ar

ICT

Infr

astr

uctu

re in

ge

nera

l, la

st m

ile

tech

nolo

gy a

nd

univ

ersa

l acc

ess

Trai

ning

mod

ules

dev

elop

ed/

avai

lab

le a

nd im

ple

men

ted

Incr

ease

d

Kno

wle

dge

of

trai

nees

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usO

utso

urci

ng

Fina

nce

Hum

an R

esou

rce

10,0

00.0

0/ye

ar

Sp

ams,

Viru

ses,

w

ebsi

te h

ijack

, cy

ber

secu

rity

Trai

ning

mod

ules

dev

elop

ed/

avai

lab

le a

nd im

ple

men

ted

Incr

ease

d

Kno

wle

dge

of

trai

nees

Trai

nees

per

form

ance

ap

pra

isal

Con

tinuo

usO

utso

urci

ng

Fina

nce

Hum

an R

esou

rce

10,0

00.0

0/ye

ar


Table 8: Strengthening Human Capital Infrastructure – Implementation Plan


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

1 Setting up and equipping in-house training centre

3 months 01/12/10

2 Attachments to other Parliaments (ICT staff)

01/04/11

3 Exchange programme to other Parliaments(ICT staff)

01/01/11

4 In-house training for Members of staff

01/12/10

5 In-house training for Parliamentarians

01/12/10

6 Setting up knowledge database

01/04/11

7 Access to e-books, e-journals and e-resources

01/02/11

9 Training of Trainers on Knowledge Management

01/02/11

10 Training of Trainers on database development and maintenance

01/02/11

11 Training of Trainers on Legislative- Representative – Oversight applications

01/02/11

12 Training of Trainers on document management, archiving and virtual library systems

01/02/11

13 Training of Trainer on help Desk services

01/02/11

14 Hands-on practical lessons on the use of the Internet, ICT applications to enhance Parliamentarians work as legislators

01/02/11

15 Monthly training of other users (than MP) of Parliament Information system

01/02/11

16 Implementing and training of trainers on ECA “ICTs essentials for Government leaders” on-line Platform

01/02/11

17 ICT and MDGS 01/02/11

18 ICT Policy and Strategies formulation, implementation in Swaziland

01/02/11

19 e-Government, m-government and e-Governance : challenge and opportunities – implementation stages

01/02/11

39ICT Master Plan


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

20 ICT and good Governance: Government Information systems,Public information systems, Opening access to Public Information systemImprove public expenditure management, decentralized planning and monitoring systems

01/02/11

21 e-democracy applications: challenges and opportunities for Africa

01/02/11

22 e-agriculture, m-agriculture 01/02/11

23 Cyberlaw:ICT legal framework

01/02/11

24 e-commerce, m-commerce, e-signature, e-transaction and legislation

01/02/11

25 ICT skills/capacity for the knowledge economy and policy intervention

01/02/11

26 Public Private partnership challenge and enabling environment for promoting FDI

01/02/11

27 Enabling environment for ICT, R&D

01/02/11

28 ICT Infrastructure in general, last mile technology and universal access

01/02/11

29 Spams, Viruses, website hijack, cyber security

01/02/11

3.5 E- government and democracy

Pillar 3: To strengthen the representative, legislative, oversight and Government formation functions.

Given that Parliamentarians, as representatives, overseers and legislators play a vital role in driving national, regional and international initiatives, they need to know how and where to promptly and accurately access the right information and knowledge to make correct analysis and insightful contributions as they undertake their parliamentary functions.

They should have the capacity to use ICTs to update themselves on current national, regional and international socio-economic and political developments and to also access internal and external information for research-related activities. A well-informed Parliamentarian is an asset to the nation.

ICTs can also be used to establish innovative mechanisms to facilitate information flow and enhance interactions between the public, Parliament and Government.


Figure 6 Strengthening Parliament’s oversight, legislative, advocacy and government formation function.

Representative Government

Strengthen Parliament oversight, legislative, advocacy,

govt. formation

LegislativeOversight

3.5.1 Activity 1: To strengthen the legislative function

Members of Parliament, as legislators, are expected to debate issues of national concern, amend old laws and pass new ones. This requires easy access to a wide range of knowledge and information resources such as databases, intranets, digital libraries, the World Wide Web and digitized legislative documents such as bills and proceedings in order to make informed decisions.

Actions

1. Equipping and empowering Staff and Members of Parliament through regular capacity-building awareness-raising workshops on various ICT issues and on laws and legal instruments that govern and regulate the use of ICT.

Effective training aimed at raising awareness

• There is a need for specialized training for ICT staff so they can competently undertake design, implementation and maintenance of hardware and software appliances and applications

• There is also a need for regular in-house ICT training

There is a need for effective training aimed at raising awareness within Parliament on practical benefits of ICT for good governance and for improving democratic processes, developing and strengthening the capacity of staff to access information, automate documentation and package knowledge.

1. Empowering MPs on such new technology issues as cyber-law, Internet governance, intellectual property rights (IPR), e-security , e-governance through other relevant training programmes.

2. Establishing databases with relevant information accessible to all MPs, developing information systems for bills and amendments and recording and tracking legislative actions.

3. Designing and implementing an interactive parliamentary website/resources with high access speed and information integrity. This will allow for a legislative process and parliamentary proceedings that are transparent and subject to closer public scrutiny. The website should have links to other Parliaments.

4. Establishing an information database, including legal texts, reference material, decrees and statutes accessible to staff and Members of Parliament.

41ICT Master Plan

5. Organizing debates on e-strategy within Parliament, in other Ministries and committees to identify priority areas.

6. Participating in e-Parliament initiatives at the subregional, continental and international levels.

7. Organizing mission studies to countries for best practices.

3.5.2 Activity 2. To strengthen the representative and advocacy functions (promotion of ICT for Development activities within constituencies)

Members of Parliament represent the constituencies which voted them into Parliament. Therefore, MPs should focus on issues of importance in their respective Constituencies, fostering unobstructed information flow through appropriate channels.

ICTs allow people to participate more actively in the democratic process, permitting more involvement and contact with their representatives. The application of ICT could facilitate a two-way process in expressing opinions as they allow for posting queries, comments and answers to questions on the website.

This could be made possible for constituencies even in the rural areas through the provision of public access point at affordable prices. Ensuring that constituencies are linked via the Internet and have access to basic training on e-mail use can be helpful in bridging the gap between Parliament, the representative and the public.

Actions:

1. Developing an interactive constituency websites and other collaborative tools to strengthen and enhance interaction between the representatives and their constituencies. Strategies for regular maintenance of websites should be drawn up.

2. Establishing the parliamentary radio broadcast and television as tools for information dissemination.

3. Equipping the parliamentary committees with appropriate technology to effectively and efficiently undertake public hearings.

4. Developing the capacity of Members of Parliament and constituency staff to champion change by undertaking workshops at constituency level on the benefits of ICTs in speeding up socio-economic advancement within communities.

5. Providing relevant ICT training (e.g. email & MS Word) to the public at a subsidized cost.

6. Developing and implementing training programmes on specialized software for strengthening parliamentary representative functions.

3.5.3 Activity 3: To strengthen oversight functions

Parliament, acting as the voice of the nation, has the constitutional mandate to both oversee Government and to hold Government to account. For the oversight function to be performed in full, Parliament will require having broad access to technical expertise and information, but also needs to be acquainted with the different channels through which information can be effectively disseminated to the user.

The amount and quality of information available to both the Parliamentarians and the public is vital to effectiveness in the oversight function, as the former are expected to ensure that Government, its various ministries and


departments follow rules and procedures of transparency, accountability and efficient governance when dealing with public resources, while the latter are expected to intelligently participate actively in the democratic process.

ICT usage will enhance prompt access to information from government databases, independent sources, better direct interaction between the MPs and their electorates through internet as well as SMS. Committees which oversee the national budget, can easily assess and monitor government expenditure from the appropriate database through use of ICT.

Actions:

1. Organizing community outreach to enlighten the constituencies about their rights in the legislative process, holding public debates on constituency issues and promoting Internet usage.

2. Development of information systems that would monitor and track government assurances to strengthen accountability and transparency.

3. Enhancement of democratic and parliamentary institutions, mechanisms and practices through parliamentary online services, networks, information sharing and creation of constituency websites.

4. Development of databases in cooperation with various government departments to enable Parliaments to monitor and track contractual obligations to which Government has committed itself on behalf of the public.

5. Development of Information Systems to monitor and track major projects being undertaken by the executive.

3.5.4 Activity 4: To promote good-governance

The use of ICTs actually extends Parliament to the communities - right where they are, at their respective constituencies. It enables Parliaments and Parliamentarians to be more responsive to the needs of their constituencies. It has the ability to open and increase opportunities for Governments to improve public service delivery in urban and rural areas by various creative innovative approaches.

Actions:

1. Organizing capacity-building and awareness-raising workshops on ICT to promote good governance.

2. Organizing relevant training programmes to empower MPs with new technology e-Government, e-voting, e-services and e-inclusion.

3. Establishing databases of best e-governance practices accessible to MPs.

4. Organizing debates on e-strategy within Parliaments with ICT or related Ministries and e-strategies committees in promoting the effective implementation of e-governance tools.

5. Organizing mission studies to countries for best practices.

43ICT Master Plan

3.5.5 Activity 5: To strengthen parliamentary oversight of national and subregional ICT policies and strategies

Not only is Parliament to oversee its own internal duties, but also to oversee the national ICT policies and strategies as well as the subregional and international policies and strategies that Governments have signed.

To ensure efficient oversight of national and regional ICT policies and strategies, this parliamentary function should include the following actions:

1. Establishment of the ICT committee to oversee national and subregional ICT policies and strategies.

2. Building the capacity of the ICT committee to ensure efficient handling of national, regional and global challenges in using technologies relating to cyber crime and suchlike developments.

3. Development of the capacity of the ICT committee to oversee projects being undertaken by the executive.

4. Strengthening the capacity of MPs to provide political leadership and advocacy in the implementation of the National ICT Policy.

5. Equipping MPs to effectively participate in drafting relevant legislation on such developments as e-commerce, e-governance and cyber security in order to instill confidence in the economy and improve governance.


Tab

le 9

: Str

eng

then

ing

par

liam

enta

ry o

vers

ight

, rep

rese

ntat

ive

and

ad

voca

cy f

unct

ions

Pill

ar 3

: To

Str

eng

then

par

liam

enta

ry o

vers

ight

, rep

rese

ntat

ive

and

ad

voca

cy f

unct

ions

Act

ivit

ies

Key

del

iver

able

sS

ucce

ss in

dic

ato

rsIn

dic

ato

r ve

rific

atio

n m

eans

Dur

atio

nR

eso

urce

sB

udg

et E

stim

ate

(US

$)

Des

igni

ng o

f con

stitu

ency

w

ebsi

tes

Acc

essi

ble

w

ebsi

tes

Ab

ility

to

acce

ss w

ebsi

teO

nlin

e in

spec

tions

usi

ng

sear

ch e

ngin

es6

mon

ths

Hum

an a

nd

finan

cial

re

sour

ces

200,

000

Dev

elop

ing

gove

rnm

ent

assu

ranc

es, b

ilate

ral a

nd u

nila

tera

l ob

ligat

ions

and

Pro

ject

Tra

ckin

g sy

stem

Sys

tem

inst

alle

d

and

com

mis

sion

edA

bili

ty t

o ch

eck,

tra

ck a

nd

follo

w u

p g

over

nmen

t as

sura

nces

and

pro

ject

s.

Rep

orts

6 m

onth

sH

uman

and

fin

anci

al

reso

urce

s

22,0

00

Est

ablis

hing

Cor

por

ate

Virt

ual

Priv

ate

Net

wor

k fo

r co

nstit

uenc

y of

fices

Net

wor

k in

stal

led

an

d c

omm

issi

oned

Ab

ility

to

use

the

netw

ork

for

info

rmat

ion

shar

ing

and

co

mm

unic

atio

n

Rep

orts

from

co

nstit

uenc

y of

fices

6 m

onth

sH

uman

and

fin

anci

al

reso

urce

s

190,

000

Dev

elop

ing

cap

acity

of

cons

titue

ncy

offic

ers

in

colla

bor

ativ

e to

ols

and

un

der

stan

din

g of

ICT4

D

Cer

tific

ate

of

acco

mp

lishm

ent

Ab

ility

to

use

the

colla

bor

ativ

e to

ols

and

rep

orts

on

ICT

activ

ities

with

in c

onst

ituen

cies

Mon

itorin

g an

d

Eva

luat

ion

Ap

pra

isal

of

cons

titue

ncy

offic

ers

6 m

onth

sH

uman

and

fin

anci

al

reso

urce

s

80,0

00

Bui

ldin

g o

nlin

e/of

fline

dis

cuss

ion

foru

ms

Onl

ine/

offli

ne

dis

cuss

ion

foru

mC

onst

ituen

ts a

re a

ble

to

enga

ge

thei

r M

Ps

onlin

e/of

fline

Num

ber

of c

onst

ituen

ts

enga

ging

the

ir P

arlia

men

taria

ns

3 m

onth

sH

uman

and

fin

anci

al

reso

urce

s

10,0

00

Initi

ate

pol

icy

dia

logu

e w

ith t

he

exec

utiv

e fo

r th

e d

eplo

ymen

t of

e-

gove

rnan

ce a

pp

licat

ions

N

o fin

anci

al

imp

licat

ions

Imp

lem

entin

g sp

ecifi

c ap

plic

atio

ns

rela

ted

to

the

func

tions

A

lread

y in

clud

ed i

n ca

pac

ity b

uild

ing

45ICT Master Plan

Table 10: Strengthening parliamentary oversight, representative and advocacy functions – Implementation Plan

Pillar 3: Strengthening parliamentary oversight, representative and advocacy functions – Implementation PlanNo Activities Duration Start Finish Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

1 Designing of constituency websites

9 months 01/04/11

2 Training constituency office staff on content management for websites

3 months 01/08/11

3 Installing constituency Corporate Private Networks

6 months 01/04/11

4 Building online/offline collaborative tools for constituency offices

6 months 01/08/11

5 Creating reporting tools for projects in constituency offices

3 months 01/01/11

6 Developing capacities of the constituency officers in ICT4D

6 months 01/08/11

7 Developing tracking system for government assurances and projects

3 months 01/02/11

8 Developing and implementing capacity building activities on how ICT can enhance the three main functions and promote good governance – the role of MPs

3 months 01/03/11

9 Initiating policy dialogue with Executive for the deployment of e-governance applications

1 week 01/02/11

10 Implementing specific applications relating to the functions.

6months

01/03/11

3.6 Interactivity

Pillar 4: Harnessing ICT to promote community and, constituency development and inter-parliamentary cooperation

Studies have shown that the use of ICTs can address one of the key challenges facing many Governments – enhancing government efficiency. The use of ICTs for this purpose can make Governments accountable, transparent, effective and responsive to citizens’ demands. Parliamentarians who are well informed about their constituency issues are in a better position to advocate for a people-centred, development-oriented, and inclusive information society, thus promoting appropriate ICT applications for community development. Meaningful dialogue where the community members can freely express their concerns, experiences and expert knowledge to a responsive MP is more likely to result in decisions that will more appropriately reflect the people’s will, thus enhancing their participation and making them more responsible for collective decisions.

The strengthening of parliamentary institutions is a central challenge in the process of promoting the rule of law and consensus-based participatory management within emerging and consolidating democracies. The situational analysis outcome reflected that with reference to inter-parliamentary cooperation, a majority of the Members of Parliament concurred that a well-implemented ICT programme will facilitate information flow; reinforce parliamentary control, influence and scrutiny at all levels as well as promote cooperation with Parliaments from third countries.

A number of actions need to be taken to harness interactivity and bring the ICT close proximity of the People.

Actions

1. Organize a special training on how ICT can serve the urgent and daily needs of the grassroots of the remote, rural and urban peripheral people.

2. Undertake case per case research study in cooperation with ICT experts, private sector and develop a best practice portal on the Parliament website.

3. Organize training for the local executive council (Bucopho), regional council members, Chiefs (Tindvuna) and regional administrators.

4. Establish partnerships for implementation of some identified initiatives.

Table 11: Harnessing the Role of Parliamentarians and ICT for Community Development

Programme 4: Harnessing the Role of Parliamentarians and ICT for Community Development


Success indicators Indicator veri-fication means

Duration Resources Budget

Building the capacity of Parliamentarians on the role of ICT for community develop-ment

Skills imparted to Parliamen-tarians

Increase in the number of MPs trained and activities undertaken in con-stituencies

Feedback questionnaire and ICT appli-cations project from MPs

Continu-ous

Human and financial resources

No finan-cial impli-cations

Undertaking re-search studies and developing a best practice portal on the Parliament web-site

Comprehensive report devel-oped

Quality reports Report avail-ability

6 months Human and financial resources

25,000

Training of the local constituency admin-istrators

Skills imparted to local admin-istrators and constituencies

Increased skills and knowledge imparted to the local adminis-trators and constitu-encies

Feedback re-ports

Continu-ous

Human re-sources


Establish partner-ships for the initiative

Partners mobi-lized

Number of partners involved in different initiatives

Feedback re-ports

Continu-ous


47ICT Master Plan

Table 12: Harnessing the Role of Parliamentarians and ICT for Community Development – Implementation Plan

Pillar 4: Harnessing the Role of Parliamentarians and ICT for Community Development – Implementation Plan


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

1 Capacity Building of Parliamentarians on the role of ICT for community development

01/12/10

2 Undertaking research studies and developing a best practice portal on the Parliament website

01/01/11

3 Training of constituency administrators

01/04/11

4 Establish partnerships for the initiative

01/02/11

3.7 Sustainability

Pillar 5: Strengthening parliamentary oversight of national and subregional ICT policy and strategies

The formulation of ICT policy and strategies can assist countries to deploy, harness and exploit ICT for socioeconomic development at local, national and subregional levels. Formulating plans involves a dynamic and broad-based consultative process managed through a high – level task force including civil society groups, private sector, independent regulatory bodies, academia and mass media or commission.

Governments & Parliaments should be responsible drawing up a policy and a legislative framework for the sustainable development of the Information Society in Africa. The latter remain a mechanism for channeling citizens’ input into the ICT4D Agenda and for ensuring the involvement of various stakeholders, hence greater parliamentary involvement in e-strategies. This ensures that a country’s ICT strategy is generated, implemented, and evaluated through national institutions with adequate political legitimacy to ensure ownership and sustainability.

3.7.1 Recognizing the role of Parliamentarians in the policy process

Governments need to take the lead not only in the formulation of ICT national policy and strategies, but also in their financing. Some of the challenges which need to be addressed after the formulation of the national strategies are: appropriate human resource development strategies, mobilization of adequate funds and investments, sound legislation effected to ensure success in reaching the intended goals. Government cannot handle ICT funding alone, as there are other national priorities such as poverty alleviation and HIV/Aids issues which are competing for the same fund, therefore, Government should specifically allocate a portion of the national budget to ICT activities to ensure sustainability and investor confidence.

Parliamentarians, through enactment of national legislation, good oversight of ICT policy for development, the provision of adequate budget and promoting innovative financial mechanisms are expected to lay down the fundamentals for an inclusive Information Society.

The Parliament of Swaziland’s ability to improve the implementation of national policy and strategies through good oversight and representation is primarily rooted in aligning national legislation with policy priorities and


ensuring sufficient funds through national budgets, foreign and local private sector investment, bilateral and multilateral development partners.

These innovative inter-related financing mechanisms, with Government taking the lead, are the backbone of the policy and strategies implementation and the pivotal role in anchoring this will be played by the Parliament ICT Committee, whose functions and structure are as laid out in Section 3.3.4.

The Parliament ICT Committee is expected to play its role by diligently executing its functions.

Table 13: Strengthening parliamentary oversight of national and subregional ICT policy and strategies

Programme 5: To Strengthen parliamentary oversight of national and subregional ICT policy and strategies


Success indicators

Indicator verification means

Duration Resources Budget

Capacity build-ing - Parlia-mentarians

Skills built in Parliamentar-ians

Attending na-tional and inter-national confer-ences on ICTs

Number of MPs and Senators able to debate effectively when passing ICT legislation

6 months Human and financial re-sources

60,000

Establishment of inter-parlia-mentary collab-orative tools

Collaborative systems insti-tuted

Ability of MPs to network online

Number of discussions conducted online

6 months Human and financial re-sources

5,000

Table 14: Strengthening parliamentary oversight of national and subregional ICT policy and strategies – Implementation plan

Programme 4: To Strengthen parliamentary oversight of national and subregional ICT policy and strategies – Implementation plan


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

1 International and local ICT workshops & conferences for Parliamentarians

2 Establishment of collaborative tools in conjunction with ECA, APKN, UNDESA

3.7.2 Funding the implementation Plan

A resource mobilization strategy

Numerous challenges face the financing of the ICT Master Plan, e.g. scarcity of financial resources; competition for the same fund with other national priorities such as HIV/Aids, poverty reduction strategies, health for all; lack of awareness among policy makers of the role ICTs play in speeding up socio-economic development; lack of a consultative approach among stakeholder/partnerships in the formulation of national development strategies; lack of incentives to attract the would be investors, to name but a few.

A resource mobilization strategy can therefore, greatly assist the Parliament of Swaziland in mobilizing adequate and predictable financial resources to support the effective implementation of the ICT Master Plan objectives. Development partners have acknowledged Parliaments as Institutions central to the promotion and consolidation of good governance, democracy and peace and capable of ensuring that policies, legislation and other regulatory

49ICT Master Plan

frameworks meet community development needs. As such, they have the potential to attract substantial co-financing from a diversity of sources.

Apart from the allocation from National funds, the resource mobilization efforts should not only target the allocation from National funds but also traditional and innovative funding sources including but not limited to bilateral and multilateral organizations, international and national charitable foundations and NGOs, the multinational and national private sector. Bilateral contributions usually represent an important source of financing at the country level. In addition a comprehensive ICT Master Plan, with a high expected impact, can attract investors.

Below are some resource mobilization strategies that may be put in place:

1. Establishing a resource mobilization team headed by either the President of Senate or the Speaker of the House of Assembly and both are members of the team;

2. Mainstreaming the ICT Master Plan into the Parliament of Swaziland development plan and advocate for more local budget allocation per year;

3. Mobilizing regional and international development organizations to support the implementation of the Plan - establishing effective communication mechanisms to promote the ICT Master Plan objectives, activities and impact to partners. Some

4. Communications tools include, brochures, newsletters, public bulletin boards, media coverage, advertising on community radio stations and websites;

5. Strengthening Partnership with the Minister of Information, Communications and Technology and advocate for budget allocation at this level for Parliament involvement in ICT Policy and Strategy processes;

6. Empowering MPs through activities which will introduce them to better knowledge of new technological issues which have revenue generation implications such as taxation laws, cyber-laws, Internet governance, IPR, e-security and Voice-over Internet Protocol;

7. Taking a lead in mobilizing resources and encouraging smart partnerships between public and private sector operators;

8. Amending existing legislations where necessary to provide transparent and effective legal and regulatory environments conducive for investment attraction;

9. Strategically communicating the ICT Master Plan objectives, activities at the constituency level and mobilizing communities to financially support the implementation;

10. Developing a special Partnership with Mobile Telephone operators, renowned Private sector companies and financial institutions;

11. Strategically communicating the ICT Master Plan at the constituency level and mobilizing communities to financially support the implementation;

12. Developing the expected annual Parliament ICT Budget drawing impact analysis from the ICT Master Plan prior to the budget allocation exercise.


3.7.3 Attracting FDI as a means to promote ICT4D

We are living in an increasingly interdependent global economy, part of the development dilemma is how foreign direct investment (FDI) can be harnessed to assist and facilitate local economic development, as the deployment of ICT infrastructure poses a major challenge in terms of the massive capital outlay required and Government cannot fund the process alone.

FDI is becoming an increasingly important issue with reference to bridging the digital divide and is playing a large role in global economic growth rates. It is now seen as a rational financial development alternative. Hence Government should take lead in facilitating an enabling environment to attract investments which will provide job opportunities, enhance technology transfer and development. On the other hand, Parliament should actively participate in ensuring that the regulatory environment is transparent, stable, independent and consistent to attract investors, encourage the establishment of micro-finance opportunities via domestic industrial or development financial institutions.

3.7.4 Support Public Private Partnerships legislation and rules: An Innovative ICT4D Financial Solution

Scarcity of funds is a growing concern for effective ICT Master Plan implementation as Government does not have the resources to provide all the necessary tools and solutions. There is therefore a need to apply the concept of partnerships between Government and the private sector for guaranteed development. The Public-Private Partnerships are able to address the challenges of infrastructure development facing Swaziland and can be used to fund new projects, upgrades and refurbishment of existing infrastructure.

The partnership concept ensures that parties strategically aggregate resources and competencies to effectively tackle the challenges; reducing duplication of efforts and wastage of available resources; sharing benefits, risks and cost whilst enhancing the implementation of national programmes that are structured, cost effective, long term and sustainable. Formulation or amendment of ICT PPP legislation and rules may be required.

Additionally, Parliament may also be required to address labour laws, tax codes, equal rights legislation, or trade policies in line with national ICT Policy and strategy.

3.8 ICT Master Plan Monitoring and Evaluation

There is need to set up an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism prepared by the Parliament ICT Committee, which will track the implementation plans of all scheduled activities with particular focus on the measure of the success indicators as per agreed time frame. It is the mandate of Parliament in exercising its oversight function, to support the implementation and evaluate the success and failure of each programme.

The WSIS Plan of Action emphasized the need for countries to incorporate within their respective national ICT development plans, provisions for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the plans, with a view to measure their impact and progress towards the development of the Information Society and economy within the respective countries.

The monitoring and evaluation of the ICT Master Plan for the Parliament of Swaziland will be a continuous process that calls for amendments according to the outcome of the evaluation and to account for changes in

51ICT Master Plan

technologies, new technology, evolving national priorities, industry best practices, and many other influences which impact on the future trends of Information, Communication and Technology.

3.9 Master Plan Budget estimates (to be revisited)

Table 15: Master Plan budget estimates

No Area to strengthen Budget Estimate (US$)

1 Strengthening Legal, Regulatory and ICT institutional framework 90,000.00

2 Strengthening Networking and Hardware Infrastructure 2,793,000.00

3 Improving Software and ICT Services 418,000.00

4 Strengthening Human Capital Infrastructure 930,000.00

5 Strengthening parliamentary oversight, representative and advocacy functions

508,000.00

6 Strengthening parliamentary oversight of national and subregional ICT policy and strategies

65,000.00

Total Estimated Budget consideration 4,804,000.00


4.0 Enabling factors for Implementing the ICT Master Plan

The successful realization of the NICI Policy will be based on an implementation strategy that takes into account the identified priority areas. The responsibility for the implementation of the plan lies with the Parliament ICT Committee working in close partnership with Parliament, Government, plus stakeholders.

Government should be committed to lead by example by supplying the structural transformations required before and during deployment of ICT as well as providing leadership and support from the level of the Executive.

Parliament:

• Lack of involvement by top level officers e.g., the President of Senate and Speaker of the House of Assembly, including their deputies.

• Insufficient training of Parliamentarians, due to lack of resources. MPs, staff should be equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to tackle a variety of ICT issues;

• Lack of coordinated efforts among the Parliamentarians could be a serious problem for achieving the expected outcomes.

The Parliament ICT Committee

• The Committee ensures the effective delivery and custodianship of the ICT Master Plan objectives. The committee should be able to promote unity among Senators, MPs, staff and constituencies. Both the political and administrative wings of Parliament should work harmoniously together.

• The ICT committee should actively drive the implementation. Inactivity and lack of training in relevant areas will be a risk to successful implementation.

• Lack of proper management control. Each member of the committee should know what role they specifically play in the monitoring of the implementation.

Financial Resources:

The scarcity of financial resources can easily ground the project. Government’s total financial commitment needs to be assured before embarking on anything. Additionally, a good financial mobilization plan needs to be set up – a small energetic committee, possibly consisting of well known business men, reporting to the Parliament ICT Committee, to rigorously source out funds locally and internationally. The resource mobilization strategies can become very handy. Consideration should always be given to the regular maintenance of the hardware and up grading of the software when tackling the issue of financing ICT projects as this dictates more funds.

Human Resource and Skills:

The project requires and assumes ICT literate personnel. Inadequate training and personnel, who cannot effectively use ICTs of the new technologies, will pose a threat. Continuous build of human capital in Parliament is essential for competence in goods delivery.

53ICT Master Plan

Annex 1: Report of ICT Needs Assessment for Swaziland

Parliament – April 2010

Table of Contents

Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................541. Background ...................................................................................................................................552. Objectives .......................................................................................................................................553. Methodology ..................................................................................................................................564. Survey findings ...............................................................................................................................565. Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................686. Recommendations ..........................................................................................................................68

List of tables

Table 1: Members of Parliament Survey Summary ...............................................................................57Table 2: Availability of infrastructure for personal use / shared use for Members of Parliament ..........57Table 3: Staff Members of Parliament Summary Findings ....................................................................61Table 4: Level of computerization of tasks in departments...................................................................63Table 5: Summary of Departmental ICT Requirements ......................................................................64

List of Appendices

Appendix A: Members of Parliament Data Analysis .............................................................................69Appendix B: Staff of Parliament data ....................................................................................................74Appendix C: ICT Services and Requirements from the Staff and Heads of Departments .....................75


Executive Summary

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and its subregional office of Southern Africa based in Lusaka are providing support to Swaziland Parliament in developing and implementing an ICT framework in accordance with the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) Strategy. An important aspect of this assistance is to undertake an ICT situational assessment of the Parliament in order to identify areas and types of need to assist in identifying the actions that would be required to address the situation during the development of the ICT Master Plan.

In this regard, a consultant was engaged to assist Swaziland Parliament to undertake its needs analysis by engaging Members and Staff of Parliament, assessing requirement of Departments in Parliament as well as the department that is responsible for provision of ICT services in Parliament.

The survey assessed the level of information skills Members of Parliament had to enable them to advocate for development and use of ICT in Parliament. Sadly the survey showed that on average the members of Parliament had below average access and use of computer, a fact that would limit them to fully advocate for ICTs in Parliament.

An in-depth of this shortcoming however indicated that unavailability of infrastructure contributed to the low access and use while at the same time lack of awareness may be a major contributory factor as most MPs did not respond to questions.

In the case of Staff of Parliament however, the level of ICT capacity is much higher even though the limitation of scope of use and infrastructure is still an impediment. This fact brought to light the need for capacity building in majority areas of ICT development.

When assessing ICT usage in the various Departments in Parliament, the same limitations that manifested itself with the Staff of Parliament came to light by showing a high level of computerization when in fact the scope of such usage was limited.

It was important to know whether the ICT Department in Parliament had the capacity to provide ICT services but was shown that such a dedicated department did not exist as such limiting the provision of the services as they were centrally provided by Government through the Department of Computer Services.

It is on the basis of the findings of this report that an ICT Master Plan for Swaziland Parliament will be developed and an implementation plan elaborated which will facilitate in equipping Members and Staff of Parliament with ICT skills to effectively perform their duties and enable engagement of Parliamentarians in ICT issues in the country and in regional and international fora.

55ICT Master Plan

1. Background

The Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been acknowledged as important in facilitating the attainment of developmental goals in all sectors of the economy. This was recognized by Amending in May 1996 when the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) was launched by the Conference of Ministers responsible for social and economic development and planning as an action framework for information and communication activities in Africa. AISI was thus a common vision for bridging the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world and for creating effective digital opportunities to be developed by Africans and their partners and to speed up the continent’s entry into the information and knowledge global economy.

South African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) also identified ICT as a cross cutting topic in most areas dealt with by Parliamentarians and thus placed Parliaments at a significant role in the development, monitoring and evaluation and mobilization of financial resources for national ICT strategies. This assessment of the importance of ICT in Parliaments followed ICT surveys undertaken by SADC-PF in 2001 and 2002 which indicated that adoption of ICT for national Parliaments were undertaken on ad hoc basis, rendering Parliaments incomparable in development, skills, knowledge and awareness, therefore defeating the purpose of building a knowledge economy in the region.

The Economic Commission for Africa’s subregional office for Southern Africa based in Lusaka thus cooperated with SADC-PF and developed an ICT Strategy Framework for Parliaments in the SADC region.

It is therefore within the framework of the SADC-PF ICT Strategy that the assistance being provided to the Parliament of Swaziland is being undertaken in response to the Terms of Reference developed to meet the individual needs of each Parliament.

In response to the Terms of Reference, questionnaires for needs assessment were structured in accordance to the SADC-PF ICT Strategy Framework and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) with action lines accessing the capacity, infrastructure and applications; contribution to inclusive Information Society in Swaziland and promotion of inter-parliamentary cooperation.

It is therefore, the conclusions of the analysis of the surveys questionnaires that will be used to obtain in part, the recommendations of the actions and plans that will be derived during the development of the ICT Master Plan for Swaziland Parliament.

2. Objectives

The purpose of the survey is to assess the status of ICT integration and the contribution of members and staff of Parliament towards implementation of the Information Society and to evaluate their skills and infrastructure for advocating for development as well as the use of ICTs in Parliament.

Thus the survey aims to asses the capacity of the Parliament to use ICTs effectively and efficiently in order to enhance its activities and improve its transparency and connection with the electorate.

The surveys are also intended to assess the level of the Parliament to establish legislative frameworks required for development of sustainable ICT policies and for building a favourable environment for dissemination and development of secure use of the national ICTs.


3. Methodology

Three types of questionnaires were developed for the three groups of population in the Parliament of Swaziland to assess how ICT services and applications were being undertaken. The questionnaires were different in order to gather information as accurately as possible from the different data sources in order to take into account the varying issues of concern such as policy and strategic issues which are more of a concern to Members of Parliament, infrastructure which is a major concern for Heads of Departments and implementation issues (e.g. knowledge and skills and ability to use the ICT services and applications available) which are of outmost concern to staff members. A fourth supplementary questionnaire was administered to the department dealing with ICT issues in a bid to analyse and determine the current status of ICT infrastructure and services available in the Parliament of Swaziland.

The survey took into account the composition of the Parliament of Swaziland which has two chambers comprising of the Senate and the House of Assembly where the Senate has thirty members, ten of which are elected by the House of Assembly and twenty are appointed by the King. The House of Assembly on the other hand has sixty five Members of Parliament, making the members in the two chambers to total 95.

A random sample of 35 members was selected proportionately from the fifty-five constituencies comprising of thirty Senators and sixty-five Members of Parliament. The sample consisting of MPs and Senators was drawn from the four regions in the country with no two Members of Parliament coming from the same constituency. The outcome was that 29 respondents were received from the members of the Parliament of Swaziland which constituted 30 percent of the whole population. The Members of Parliament participated by filling out the questionnaires and requesting for assistance as required.

In the case of the Staff of Parliament, the survey considered the whole population of 60 staff members, fifty-nine of which responded placing the respondent rate at 98 percent.

The survey also assessed all seven departments in the Parliament providing the Heads of Department with questionnaires which had open-ended questions in an attempt to solicit as much information as possible pertaining to the issues under examination. The objective open-ended questions, was also to encourage full and meaningful response using the subject’s own knowledge and/or feelings as studies have shown them to be more objective. The questionnaire focused on three areas of information, namely to assess the implementation of activities using ICT services and applications; availability of infrastructure and resources as well as capacity building.

In dealing with the ICT Department questionnaire, half of the staff for Library and Information Department took part in the survey.

All questionnaires were distributed and collected via the Information Manager and the Staff of the Library and Information Department.

4. Survey findings

4.1 Members of Parliament survey findings

The survey findings for Members of Parliament questionnaire were structured around the indicators to assess capacity, infrastructure and application; contribution to an inclusive Information Society and inter- parliamentary cooperation as shown on Table 1 below:

57ICT Master Plan

Table 1: Members of Parliament Survey Summary

Averages

Yes No

a) Access and Use of Computers 41.38 58.62

b) Knowledge and Skills 33.34 62.84c) Contributing to an inclusive Information society 10.34 88.65

d) Financing mechanism 47.59 31.03e) Promoting inter-parliamentary cooperation through ICT 51.73 48.28

Key: A&U - Access and use of ComputersK&S – knowledge and Skills IIS – Contributing to an inclusive information society FM – Financing mechanism IPC – Promoting inter-parliamentary cooperation through ICT

Members of ParliamentSurvey Summary Graph

100

80

60

40

20Yes

No0

Ave

rage

%

Indicators

A&U K&S IIS FM IPC

The assessment showed that on the average, Members of Parliament had below average access and use of computer. The survey also showed that knowledge and skills were below the average as was contribution to an inclusive Information Society and financing mechanism. Promoting inter-parliamentary cooperation through ICT was however above average rated at just above 51 percent.

In depth analysis of availability of infrastructure for personal use or shared use for Members of Parliament is shown on the Table 2 below.

Table 2: Availability of infrastructure for personal use / shared use for Members of Parliament

Infrastructure Personal Shared No answer None

PC 20.69 27.59 44.83 6.90

Laptop 13.79 6.90 72.41 6.9

Printer 10.34 27.59 58.62 6.9

Fax 3.45 27.59 58.62 6.9

Network connection within the Parliament 3.45 31.03 58.62 6.9

Access to the internet 10.34 31.03 48.28 6.9

Remote data access 0.00 3.45 89.66 6.9

Cell phone 65.52 0.00 31.03 3.45

PDA 0.00 0.00 93.10 6.90

Office Email 6.90 0.00 79.31 13.79

Personal Email 31.03 0.00 62.07 6.90

Office personal web pages 6.90 0.00 86.21 6.90

Personal web pages 0.00 0.00 93.10 6.90

Average 13.26 11.94 67.37 7.16

The following conclusions were arrived at from Appendixes A: members of Parliament data analysis.


4.1.1 Capacity

The survey indicated that on average 41 percent of the MPs use a computer in their work, while 48 percent do not use a computer and 10 percent had not answered the question.

4.1.2 Infrastructure

For availability of infrastructure 13 percent are for personal use, while 11 percent are for shared use. It has been noted that a majority of 67 percent did not answer the availability and use of infrastructure questions. Seven percent indicated they do not have and/or use any of the ICT infrastructures.

Furthermore, 72 percent did not answer on whether there are laptops at their disposal or not, 14 percent indicated their availability for personal use and another 14 percent for shared use. On availability of Personal Computers, 21 percent were for personal use, 28 percent for shared use and 45 percent did not answer the question. On printer usage, 28 percent were for personal use, 28 percent for shared use while 59 percent did not respond to this question. On office email responses, 79 percent did not answer, 7 percent were for personal use and 14 percent indicated none or not applicable.

4.1.3 Packages used

The survey indicated that 23 percent use any of the MS Office packages which include word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and email. Out of the packages used, the highly used package is the email with 34 percent, followed by word-processing with 28 percent. The lowly used package is the presentation with 7 percent and 45 percent did not answer any of the package usage questions.

4.1.4 Training

In ascertaining whether Members of Parliament have undergone some computer training at some point, and to what level, 48 percent of the respondents had, while 38 percent did not have any computer training, and 14 percent had not answered the question. Twelve percent had received adequate computer training, 14 percent did receive some training but inadequate to perform their work activities, the majority of 54 percent had not answered, and 14 percent indicated none or not applicable. It was noted that 21 percent adequately used word processing package and 7 percent used spreadsheet.

4.1.5 Knowledge and skills

In rating the level of use of computer applications like e-mail, Internet, word processing, and spreadsheets, 30 percent indicated they had no ability, 18 percent limited ability, and 5 percent sufficient for basic tasks, 2 percent were good and 6 percent proficient. It was noted that 38 percent had not answered, while those who indicated none were rated at 7 percent.

Some members (41 percent) confirmed that they receive periodic training organized by Parliament. As deduced from the survey findings, such computer training focused on women Parliamentarians only. The other 48 percent showed that there was no training for the members of Parliament arranged by Parliament, and 10 percent did not answer.

On trying to probe the training needs for Members of Parliament especially on computer packages, on average 69 percent were for word processing, 76 percent for spreadsheet, 72 percent for email and 79 percent for presentation.

59ICT Master Plan

Seventy – six percent needed training for Web browsers, 14 percent did not answer and 3 percent indicated none.

Other training needs showed that 62 percent need training to improve their level of awareness. Fifty – nine percent of MPs need capacity building training, 62 percent needed training in access , 66 percent need training in public participation, 66 percent in sharing of good practice, 62 percent in inter-parliamentary cooperation and 34 percent did not answer the section.

4.1.6 ICT policy and strategy

With regard to oversight of National ICT Policy and Strategies contributing to an inclusive Information Society in Swaziland, 11 percent indicated that they were aware of the current status of ICT policy and strategy, 72 percent showed that they had no clue, and 17 percent did not answer. Further to the same question, 66 percent did not respond and 21 percent indicated none in response to the status of ICT policy and strategy.

4.1.7 ICT contributions to Millennium Development Goals(MDGs)

On the issue of contribution to achieving Millennium Development Goal, 48 percent felt that ICT contributions have high impact, 4 percent indicated very low impact, 17 percent did not know, and 34 percent did not answer.

4.1.8 Providing effective parliamentary scrutiny and oversight of national policy and strategy

Trying to probe on how Swaziland has been successful in providing effective parliamentary scrutiny and oversight of national ICT policy and strategy, 28 percent of the members of Parliament indicated that Swaziland has been very successful and on the contrary, 10 percent quite unsuccessful, 34 percent did not know and 28 percent had not answered. The study showed that no responses were made concerning examples of the success.

For e-strategies to be implemented and succeed the majority of the members (86 percent) indicated that more need to be done in terms of awareness raising, capacity building on information society to foster members of Parliament’s roles in e-strategies processes and 14 percent did not answer.

The survey highlighted that Members of Parliament seem to share the same motion about improving their involvement in the ICT policy and strategies processes including ensuring the scrutiny and the oversight. Seventy-two percent alluded to organization of awareness raising campaigns and establishment of an ICT Committee, 62 percent preferred specific training on priority areas of the policy framework, 66 percent periodic debates and questions, 48 percent hands-on practices for members, 52 percent by involving members in the baseline study and stakeholder validation workshops, and 24 percent did not respond. The majority indicated that all mentioned issues should be considered.

It was further shown that 18 percent of respondents have shown that Swaziland has been quite successful in approving ICT bills and enacting legislation related to the development of the information society, on the contrary, 31 percent indicated the country has been very unsuccessful, 38 percent did not know and 14 percent did not respond.

4.1.9 Financing mechanisms

With reference to the issue of ensuring more funds for implementing inclusive Information Society in Swaziland, 66 percent indicated that ICT funds should be allocated for development sector in the national budget, 48


percent that partners should allocate budget for integrating ICT in the areas of cooperation, another 48 percent by advocating for legislation in favor of both foreign direct investment and local investment in ICT, 41 percent by public private partnership, 34 percent by tax incentive on relevant ICT4D programmes, and 31 percent did not answer.

4.1.10 Promoting ICT for constituent development

In probing members on their success rate in promoting ICT for their constituency development, 14 percent indicated quite successful, 48 percent quite unsuccessful, 14 percent did not know, and 24 did not respond. In suggesting what is needed to improve the situation, 66 percent alluded to awareness raising campaign, 52 percent to access best practices on pro-poor ICT applications, 52 percent training for mayors, local administrators, involving MPs and 34 percent did not respond.

4.1.11 Promoting inter-parliamentary cooperation through ICT

With reference to the Parliament of Swaziland’s success in terms of promoting inter-parliamentary communication using ICTs, 24 percent thought the Parliament of Swaziland has been quite successful, while 10 percent quite unsuccessful, 31 percent did not know, and 17 percent did not respond.

In establishing the benefits from a well implemented ICT programme on inter-parliamentary cooperation, 62 percent indicated that ICT programme facilitates information flow, 59 percent reinforcement of parliamentary control, influence and scrutiny at all levels, 45 percent access of best practices on pro-poor ICT applications, 52 percent promotion of cooperation with Parliaments from third countries and 31 percent did not respond.

4.1.12 Conclusion

The following are the conclusions that were arrived at regarding the assessment made above on Members of Parliament:

Capacity, Infrastructure and Application:

• Shortage of infrastructure leading to low capacity and computer application knowledge amongst the Members of Parliament.

• Very limited accessibility of the networks and utilization of the Internet, which might be a result of inadequate computer training and minimum utilization of the available ICT resources.

• Lack of awareness, capacity building for both members of Parliament and the Parliament as an institution, the importance of ICT services and applications also contributing to poor e-strategies utilization.

Contribution to an inclusive information society:

• A very small number seem to be aware of the ICT Policy and Strategies but are not aware of the priority areas or the pillars for ICT policy, which shows that somehow they are not involved in the development of the policy and the strategies. This lack of awareness of current status of the National ICT policy and strategies is a cause for concern.

• Lack of awareness of the priorities/pillars of the National ICT policy and strategies.• Poor or no budget for ICT services and applications.

Promotion of ICT for Constituency development:

(a) Lack of infrastructure and resources i.e. human and non-human resources.(b) Poor knowledge and skill for ICT services and application utilization.(c) Lack of awareness of the importance of ICT services for National and constituency development.(d) Lack of promotion of inter-Parliamentary cooperation using ICTs.

61ICT Master Plan

4.2 Staff of Parliament survey findings

The questionnaire was set to establish a number of issues that included the following indicators:

i) Availability of Internet and mail services;

ii) Website accessibility by staff;

iii) General application and usage (available skills); and

iv) Capacity building programmes.

Therefore, the responses were analysed, grouped and averaged on the basis of the above indicators, as shown in Table 3 where a graphical analysis is also displayed.

The summary is as follows:

Table 3: Staff Members of Parliament Summary Findings

Response 59/60 98.33%ICT Services and Software

AveragesNo Yes

a. Availability of Internet and e-mail services

31% (has no access to ICT services and software)

73% (has access to ICT services and software to some extent)

b. Parliament website accessibility by staff

73% (does not visit the Amending Parliament website)

27% (does visit the Parliament website regularly)

C. General application and usage

37% (has no computer knowledge and skills)

96% (has some skill – basic to advanced level)

d. Capacity Building

19% (never got any ICT Training)

77% (has had ICT training from a full day to more than a semester)

120

100

80

60

40

20

0AMS WA GA&U CBP

Indicators

Yes

NoAve

rage

Key: - AMS – Availability of mail services - WA - Website accessibility by staff - GA&U - General application and usage - CBP - Capacity building programmes

The above summarized table is detailed in Appendix B: Staff of Parliament data which analyses the data according to the availability of Internet and mail services; website accessibility by staff; general application and usage (available skills); as well as capacity building programmes in Parliament.

4.2.1 Availability of e-mail services

Responses to indicate the availability of e-mail services were 90 percent and 10 percent has no email service at their work. For those who indicated availability of e-mail services, 17 percent mentioned that the Internet is unreliable although they frequently access it.

The survey showed that a majority of 57 percent often browse the Internet while 42 percent do not. Out of the 57 percent who often browse the Internet the majority spent more than an hour but less than 3 hours per day.


4.2.2 Website accessibility by staff

The responses showed that 78 percent has access to either the Parliament home domain or the external domain like yahoo, and 22 percent has no access to any of the domains. At most 22 percent has access to external domain mostly Yahoo.

The findings indicated that 27 percent visit the Parliament website regularly and 73 percent do not visit the Parliament website at all. Fifteen percent visit the website for less than an hour per day. Only one person (2 percent) spent three hours or more on the Parliament website.

4.2.3 General Application and Usage

Seventy-four percent use computer software to some extent every day and 31 percent do not use a computer software. The computer software used varied from spreadsheet package, database package, word processing, power point, publisher to any other package.

Sixty-three percent integrate computer technology in their office work and 28 percent do not. The survey revealed that the way 63 percent integrate computer technology in their office work ranged from rarely, occasionally, frequently, almost always only, while 20 percent integrate computer technology all the time.

The majority of 66 percent indicated that they use a computer for their office activities and 34 percent do not use computers. From the 66 percent, 19 percent spend between 10 hours or more and 17 percent spend between 1 hour and 3 hours.

For facilities which needed to be incorporated in their work, 81 percent indicated either, computer hardware, computer software or other technological gadgets, 19 percent indicated that they did not need ICT facilities within their work places. The predominant need mentioned by 34 percent of the respondents was for a reliable Internet connection.

4.2.4 Capacity Building programmes

When indicating the proficiency level in relation to computer technologies and the use of software, 70 percent had some familiarity to the use of computer technologies ranging from newcomers, beginners, average users, advanced and experts. Twenty-nine percent indicated that they were unfamiliar with computer technologies and computer software.

The survey showed that 71 percent has had some training from a day’s in-service training to a more than a semester’s training. Twenty-eight percent had never had a chance to go through computer technology training. It showed that most of the members have had more than a full day and less than a one-semester course.

With regard to the process of integrating computer technology at work, 85 percent indicated that they were at some stage of integrating computer technology in their departments and 20 percent has not yet started integrating computer technologies. The survey outlined that 25 percent of the staff members appreciated the computer as an instructional tool to help them, 10 percent were at a creative stage. The rest were still either at learning, understanding and familiarity stages.

An open ended question was deliberately posed on current ICT training needs. The responses included basic computer needs, like MS office; Internet, accounting packages, training in data voice, trouble shooting and website design and maintenance. Ninety-one percent had ICT training needs while 8 percent did not have the need.

63ICT Master Plan

4.2.5 Conclusion

Availability of Internet and e-mail services

The analysis indicated unavailability of Internet and e-mail services was attributed to lack of adequate ICT infrastructure and resources which in turn led to low capacity in the use of ICT services and applications.

Website accessibility by staff

The analysis highlighted a lack of awareness of the importance of using ICT facilities for effective communication. This was evident in the Parliament website’s obsolescence and lack of resourcefulness. In conclusion, the website needs a complete overhaul and its content needs to be improved and updated regularly to attract staff and public visitors.

General application and usage

Generally, Parliament staff only minimal use computers in their work places. This could be due to limited resources, including computer hardware and software

Capacity building

The survey also showed a lack of knowledge and skills due to poor ICT training and development resulting in the majority of staff not effectively and efficiently using ICT services and applications. The ultimate result might be poor computer technology integration in all Parliament activities.

4.2 Heads of Departments Survey Findings

The Parliament of Swaziland departmental assessment for ICT requirement was undertaken as a supplement of the ICT parliamentary survey. The Heads of Departments’ questionnaire concentrated on infrastructure, capacity and the implementation of ICT services and applications. This survey was administered on seven departments, namely, Accounts, Administration, Disability, Hansard, HIV & AIDS, Library and Information and the Table Office. The main findings of the departmental survey are tabulated and presented in Appendix 2: ICT Services and requirements from Staff and Heads of Department.

The outputs from almost all Departments were found to be mainly narrative, tabulated and financial in format, with the exception of the verbatim and the Braille. This is due mainly to the type of software in use, limited to MS Office suite.

An assessment of the tasks implemented by the seven departments showed that 57 percent was computerized while 43 percent was both manual and computer, and that non was manual only, as can be deduced from Appendix 2.

The level of computerization shown on Table 4 was deduced by comparing the manually-produced Departmental reports and those produced using ICT equipment.

Table 4: Level of computerization of tasks in departments

Dept. Acc. Admin. Dis. Hansard Hiv/Aids Lib & Info Table Office

Rating 75% 100% 67% 100% 100% 67% 100%

The following picture of the level of computerization at the Parliamentary Service of Swaziland was brought to light. The Administration, Hansard, the Table Office and HIV/Aids Sections had the highest level of computerization at 100 percent, followed by Accounts at 75 percent. The Disability and Library and Information Sections were both rated 67 percent.


The 100 percent computerization is an outcome of the type of tasks undertaken which calls for the use of basic office suite, mainly Microsoft Office. There is room for optimizing the use of ICT in tasks performed by different departments through the use of more versatile software packages.

Assessment of the current Departmental ICT needs revealed shortfalls in the areas of ICT equipment and staff training. Table 4: Summary of Departmental ICT Requirements shows the type of shortfalls as indicated by the survey findings in two of the areas. In the area of hardware, the table shows that six out of seven Departments assessed required Internet connection; five needed computers; three required printers, scanners and servers; two required voice recognition systems and cell phones; and single departments required video player systems, Braille embossers, intranet and data packages.

The assessment (Appendix 2) for ICT training shows that all the seven departments were in dire need of computer training ranging from basic word processing, hardware use and maintenance to advanced programming. The need was so great that six departments required capacity-building programmes and software updates. Five departments required training in the area of Internet, one in accounting package, two required refresher courses to update them on the latest ICT software and two others required training in designing and maintaining websites as well as trouble in shooting.

Table 5: Summary of Departmental ICT Requirements

ICT Hardware requirements

Computer services

Scanner Photocopier Printer Server Video player sys.

Voice recog. Dig. Sys.

No of Departments

4 1 1 1 3 1 2

ICT Hardware requirements

Cell phone Internet Intranet Data package

No. of Departments

2 5 1 1

ICT Training Requirements

Acc. package

Power point

Basics of comp

Internet More comp. knowledge

Refresher courses

Web. Design, maintenance

No. of Departments

1 2 6 4 6 2 2

Conclusion

Availability of Internet and e-mail services

The Parliament of Swaziland needs to raise the standard and level of computerization across the board in order to have efficiency in carrying out departmental tasks and overall effectiveness in ICT integration in office work.

There is an urgent need for staff training to enhance their skills for effective use and maintenance of ICT hardware, thus reducing external dependence. There is also need for equipping Parliament to bring it in tune with modernization.

4.3 ICT Department Survey findings

One of the questionnaires submitted by ECA, to determine and analyse the current status of the Parliament of Swaziland (PoS) ICT infrastructure was to be directed to the ICT Department. This questionnaire was administered to the Information Manager who is currently the Head of Library and Information Section. The PoS Plans are at an advanced stage to establish an ICT Unit with four staff members: the Information manager, Assistant Librarian, Information Officer and Technician.

65ICT Master Plan

The assessment covered the five sections of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) action lines specific to the following areas:

• ICT Vision, Strategy, Leadership and Budget;

• Capacity, Infrastructure and Applications;

• ICT Services: Document management and interaction with citizens;

• Contributing to an inclusive Information Society in Swaziland;

• Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation.

The findings of this survey are important as they provide the background information for the formulation and implementation plan of the ICT Master Plan for the PoS.

4.3.1 ICT Vision, Strategy, Leadership and Budget

The Parliament of Swaziland does not have an ICT Department; consequently there is no ICT vision. ICT-related issues in Parliament are handled by the Information Manager who heads the Library and Information Section. The Information Manager reports to the Clerk to Parliament, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the PoS.

Therefore, the questionnaire highlighted the need to establish an ICT Department with an ICT Strategic Plan that clearly takes into account the Vision and Mission of the PoS.

It also showed that the major source of funding for ICT recurrent expenditure came from internal resources and such other partners as the Swaziland Post and Telecommunications.

4.3.2 Capacity, Infrastructure and Applications

The survey established that almost all members of staff of the ICT Department had personal access and use of computers in the office and at home with shared use of the network connection within Parliament. They also had Amending both official and personal e-mails.

Also, all staff members had undergone formal computer training and were able to use almost all the basic office suite applications, with levels of success ranging from inadequate to adequate.

There were two in-house technical ICT officers who mainly performed PC installation and provided user support. Most functions like application development management, system administration, maintenance and support were done externally by the Computer Services providers.

There was no in-house training for the Library & Information Staff. However, plans were underway to provide them regular ICT-related training.

It was essential to have training aimed at raising awareness within Parliaments on the practical benefits of ICT for good governance and ICT for improving democratic processes, developing and strengthening the capacity of Staff in using ICT to access information, automate documentation and package knowledge.

All PCs in offices had UPS equipment, but no licensed anti-virus software and firewall and there was no server for back-up of data.


For global Internet access, the Parliament of Swaziland only used a 250 kbp/s copper ISDN leased line, but an intranet was unavailable. However, there was a Parliament website link in the Government of Swaziland website.

Regarding the Internet, there was a need to improve the institutional infrastructure and software facilities in favour of Internet accessibility, backup and intranet services.

The common applications used by the Parliament of Swaziland had Microsoft Office package as the main office suite.

All the PC maintenance and support were done by the Government Computer Services. o technical contractors were employed by the Parliament of Swaziland as of last year and the staff developed and maintained such applications as questions to the Government, internal research systems, Library systems, document management, accounting payroll and human resources.

4.3.3 ICT Services: Document management and interaction with citizens

A very limited number of ICT services such as PC installation and support were supported by the technical staff members of the Library and Information Section. Most ICT services were fully supported by Government through the Computer Services Department and external contractors.

As for the document management system, the PoS had no system for setting up and managing either bills or committee amendments to bills in digital format. Also there was no automated system for managing library resources. The PoS only had a system for recording and managing the text of committee hearings, committee reports on proposed legislation and the text of debates and speeches in plenary sessions in digital format and was planning to expand the digitalization process.

ICT-related issues were handled by the Library and Information Department.

Regarding interaction with citizens, Internet access to electronic information resources was available to MPs, staff of Parliament and the general public through a link in the Government of Swaziland website but plans were underway to have a website that contains parliamentary documents and actions as well as an intranet to enable the Library and research staff to make their services available to members.

The overall goals for the website were established by the President/Speaker of the Parliament or chamber.

The Parliament website had the history and an overview of the composition and functions of the PoS, the text of the country’s constitution and the current alphabetical list of all Members of Parliament.

Another interaction between citizens and Parliament was through TV and radio broadcasts. Slots were available in the national TV and radio stations for Parliament to air parliamentary debates and programmes.

In all, the survey noted that the PoS planned to avail of the source files of parliamentary documents for public users and to also introduce online discussion groups.

4.3.4 Contributing to an Inclusive Information Society of Swaziland

In relation to oversight of national ICT Policy and Strategies, the survey highlighted the need to raise the level of awareness and to provide specialized training on priority areas of the Policy and e-strategies through continuous hands-on practices aimed at equipping MPs with the necessary literacy to enable them to undertake research on issues pertaining to harnessing ICT for development.

67ICT Master Plan

On the financial mechanism, the survey suggested that funds be allocated by development sector in the national budget and that during bilateral and multilateral negotiations, partners should allocate budget for integration of ICT into the areas of cooperation as a tool to speed up the expected achievements.

4.3.5 Promoting Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation through ICT

The survey concluded that the Parliament of Swaziland had been quite successful in promoting inter-parliamentary cooperation using ICT and also ranked the impact on reinforcing parliamentary control, influence and scrutiny as quite high. It highlighted the need to promote ICT programmes on inter-parliamentary cooperation to fully reap the benefits.

It Amending further concluded that the benefits of a well-implemented ICT programme on inter-parliamentary cooperation were inherent in the establishment of innovative mechanisms to facilitate information flow between Parliaments at the subregional, regional and global levels, as well as in the promotion of exchange of information and best practices between Parliaments with a view to reinforcing parliamentary control, influence and scrutiny at all levels, including cooperation with Parliaments from third world countries and accessibility of best practices on pro-poor ICT applications elsewhere.

Conclusion

ICT Vision, Strategy, Leadership and Budgetary

• The need for the establishment of an ICT Department with a Strategic Plan that takes into account the Mission of the ICT Department and the Vision of the Parliament of Swaziland.

• The need to equip Parliamentarians with information skills to enable them to advocate at the national and global levels for the development and use of ICTs in Parliaments.

• The need for the Parliament of Swaziland to actively participate in national debates, mobilize resources and advocate for the budgeting of ICT-related issues.

Capacity, Infrastructure and Applications

• The need for enhanced skills in e-security.• The need to establish an ICT Committee.• The need for specialized training for ICT staff so they can competently deal with design, implementation and

maintenance of hardware and software appliances and applications.• The need for regular in-house ICT training.• The need for effective training aimed at raising awareness within Parliament on the practical benefits of ICT for

good governance and ICT for improving democratic processes, developing and strengthening the capacity of staff in using ICT to access information, automate documentation and package knowledge.

ICT Services: Document management and interaction with citizens

The need for updated ICT hardware and software.• The need to establish a system for creating and managing either bills or committee amendments to bills in digital

format.• The need for an automated system for managing library resources. • Library is the center of information resources, and there should be a parliamentary intranet to make services

available to all users. • The Website should contain parliamentary documents and actions as well as links to other international

Parliaments.• The need to greatly improve interaction with citizens through: • on-line discussions• interactive WebPages• Live aural and video broadcast of Parliament sessions. • The need for regular ICT training for competency of staff.

Contributing to an inclusive Information Society in Swaziland


• There is need to raise the awareness of Members of Parliament on Swaziland National ICT Policy and Strategies and to identify strategies to ensure their active participation in the process of its development, implementation and monitoring.

Promoting Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation through ICT

• There is a need to promote ICT programmes on inter-parliamentary cooperation to facilitate information flow between Parliaments at the subregional, regional and global levels, enhancing exchange of information and best practices.

5. Conclusion

All in all, the survey highlighted the need for the Parliament of Swaziland to establish an ICT Department in Parliament and to advocate for the establishment of a functional ICT Committee as a top priority to enable them to properly exploit the opportunities offered by ICT.

Evidently, there was the need to formulate strategies and action plans that would effectively raise ICT awareness among MPs and staff of Parliament and ensure the implementation of activities using ICT services and applications.

There was also the need to develop smart strategies which when implemented would ensure complete computerization of the Parliament as an institution, resulting in improved productivity, effective flow of communication as well as ensuring such sustainable programmes as capacity building, community development, setting-up of financing mechanisms, promotion of involvement in policy and strategies issues and participation in inter-parliamentary, subregional and international cooperation.

6. Recommendations

• Establishment of a parliamentary ICT section/department

• Establishment of an active ICT Committee in Parliament

• Investing in developing human and non-human capital

• Setting up own highly interactive website. Currently, Parliament has a webpage in a Government website.

• Developing smart strategies which when implemented will propel Parliament into reaping the benefits of well-implemented ICT programmes.

ICT infrastructure should be improved to ensure reliable Internet connection and the use of Internet security software should be enforced to ensure the security of information.

Regular and sustainable training programmes for Staff and Members of Parliament should be implemented and prioritized in the overall Parliament budget.

Funding of ICT should be a national priority.

69ICT Master Plan

Appendix A: Members of Parliament Data AnalysisCapacity, Infrastructure and Application

Access and Use of Computer

Capacity Yes No No answer/Not applicable

Computer usage 41.38 % 48.2% 10.34%

Infrastructure Personal Shared No answer None

PC 20.69 27.59 44.83 6.90

Laptop 13.79 6.90 72.41 6.9

Printer 10.34 27.59 58.62 6.9

Fax 3.45 27.59 58.62 6.9

Network connection within the Parliament 3.45 31.03 58.62 6.9

Access to the Internet 10.34 31.03 48.28 6.9

Remote data access 0.00 3.45 89.66 6.9

Cell phone 65.52 0.00 31.03 3.45

PDA 0.00 0.00 93.10 6.90

Office e-mail 6.90 0.00 79.31 13.79

Personal e-mail 31.03 0.00 62.07 6.90

Office personal web pages 6.90 0.00 86.21 6.90

Personal web pages 0.00 0.00 93.10 6.90

Average 13.26 11.94 67.37 7.16

Applications Packages used

Word processing 27.59

Spreadsheet 10.34

E-mail 34.48

Presentations 6.90

No answer 44.83

None/Not applicable 13.79

Average 22.99

Training Yes No No answer N/A

Computer training 48.28 37.93 13.79 0.00

Level of literacy Adequate Inadequate No answer None

Word processing 20.69 17.24 48.28 13.79

Spreadsheet 6.90 17.24 55.17 13.79

E-mail 13.79 17.24 51.72 13.79

Presentations 10.34 13.79 55.17 13.79

Web browser 10.34 6.90 58.62 13.79

Average 12.41 14.48 53.79 13.79


Knowledge and skills

Communication and Internet

No Ability Limited Ability

Sufficient for basic

tasks

Good Proficient Expert No An-swer

N/A

Use of e-mail 17.24 17.24 17.24 3.45 6.90 3.45 27.59 3.45

Use of Internet 24.14 24.14 10.34 0.00 3.45 3.45 27.59 3.45

Attach and detach documents to/from email messages

24.14 20.69 3.45 3.45 3.45 3.45 34.48 3.45

Access the Internet with a browser

24.14 24.14 10.34 0.00 3.45 3.45 27.59 3.45

Navigating the Web by use of links and URL addresses

27.59 20.69 3.45 0.00 3.45 3.45 34.48 3.45

Use search engines to locate desired information

31.03 17.24 3.45 0.00 3.45 3.45 34.48 3.45

Download and print desired items from the Internet

24.14 20.69 3.45 3.45 3.45 3.45 31.03 3.45

Access and contrib-ute to chat rooms (Online discussions)

34.48 10.34 3.45 0.00 3.45 3.45 37.93 3.45

Recognize appro-priate use of chat rooms, newsgroups

31.03 13.79 0.00 0.00 3.45 3.45 41.38 3.45

Average 26.44 18.77 6.13 1.15 3.83 3.45 32.95 3.45

Word Processing

Perform basic word processing tasks

24.14 13.79 0.00 3.45 10.34 3.45 34.48 6.90

Save document file 24.14 17.24 3.45 3.45 10.34 3.45 27.59 6.90

Print document files 24.14 13.79 6.90 3.45 10.34 3.45 24.14 6.90

Use documents pre-view option

27.59 13.79 3.45 3.45 6.90 3.45 31.03 6.90

Perform editing tasks 24.14 13.79 3.45 0.00 13.79 3.45 31.03 6.90

Perform various for-matting tasks

27.59 13.79 0.00 3.45 6.90 3.45 34.48 6.90

Average 25.29 14.37 2.88 2.88 9.77 3.45 30.46 6.90

Spreadsheet

Perform data entry tasks

31.03 20.69 0.00 0.00 3.45 3.45 31.03 6.90

Use formulas 24.14 17.24 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.45 34.48 6.90

Perform editing tasks 27.59 10.34 3.45 3.45 3.45 3.45 34.48 6.90

Delete cell contents 27.59 20.69 0.00 0.00 3.45 3.45 34.48 6.90

Insert and delete rows and columns

31.03 13.79 3.45 0.00 3.45 3.45 34.48 6.90

Perform formatting tasks

24.14 10.34 0.00 0.00 3.45 0.00 51.72 6.90

Average 27.59 15.52 1.15 0.58 2.88 2.88 36.78 6.90

Parliament periodic training for mem-bers

Yes No No answer

41.38 48.28 10.34

71ICT Master Plan

Training needs Word pro-cessing

Spread-sheet

Email Presentation Web Browser None No An-swer

68.97 75.86 72.41 79.31 75.86 3.45 13.79

Other Training needs with the ob-jective of checking all that apply

Raise awareness

Capacity ofMembers

Access

Public participation

Capacity of parliaments

Sharing of

goodpractice

Inter-parlia-

mentarycoopera-

tion

No an-swer

62.07 58.62 62.07 65.52 65.52 58.62 62.07 34.48

Contributing to an inclusive information society in Swaziland - Oversight of National ICT Policy and Strategies

ICT Policy and Strategy

Yes No No answer

Awareness of the current status

10.34 72.41 17.24

ICT Policy status Formulation Awareness Approval Completion Implementa-tion

None No An-swer

3.45 6.90 0.00 3.45 3.45 20.69 65.52

Priority areas of the policy

No Answer None Education Other

79.31 10.32 3.45 6.90

ICT contribution to achieving the Millennium Dev.

Goals (MDGs), including poverty reduction,

Quite High Quite Low Very Low

alleviation and sus-tainable develop-ment

High Impact Impact Impact Impact Don’t Know No an-swer

27.59 17.24 0.00 3.45 17.24 34.48

How successful is Swaziland Parlia-ment In terms of providing effective NationalICT Policy and Strat-egy

Very suc-cessful

Quite successful

Quiteunsuccess-

ful

Veryunsuccessful

Don’t Know

No an-swer

13.79 13.79 10.34 0.00 34.48 27.59

Example of suc-cess

No Answer N/A Other

89.66 6.9 3.45


More needs to be done in terms of awareness raising, capacity building on Information society to foster members of Parliament’s role in e-strategy processes

Yes No No answer

86.21 0 13.79

What needs to be done to im-prove the involvement of Mem-bers of Parliament in the ICT policy, Strategies and processes, including ensuring scrutiny and oversight

Involve mem-bers

Organize Linkages with Min-

istries

Periodic Hands-on in the baseline

study

Organize specific and other institu-tions in

debates/ practices for and stake-holder

awareness training charge of ICT Policy

questions Members valida-tion

work-shops

no an-swer

72.41 62.07 72.41 65.52 48.28 51.72 24.14

Swaziland Parliament’s success in approving

ICT bills, or enact-ing legislation re-lating

to the development of the Information

Very suc-cessful

Quite Very

society successful Quite un-successful

unsuccessful Don’t Know No an-swer

3.45 13.79 24.14 6.9 37.93 13.79

What can be done if unsuccessful

Awareness raising

Periodic ICT hands-on practices

for

Baseline

campaign debates members study No answer

51.72 37.93 51.72 48.28 48.28

Financing Mechanism

ICT funds allocated

Integrate ICT in the

Foreign direct in-vestment

Public private Tax incentive on

Strategy for ensur-ing more funds for

for develop-ment

areas of co-operation

and local invest-ment in

partnership relevant ICT4D

implementing inclu-sive Information

sector in the

ICT Programs No an-swer

Society in Swazi-land

national budget

65.52 48.28 48.28 41.38 34.48 31.03

73ICT Master Plan

Promoting ICT for Constituency Development

Success in constituency ICT de-velopment

Very

Very suc-cessful

Quite suc-cessful

Quite un-successful

unsuccessful Don’t Know No an-swer

6.9 6.9 34.48 13.79 13.79 24.14

If unsuccessful what is needed to improve

Access best prac-tices

Training for mayors, local

the situation Awareness raising

on pro-poor ICT

admin, involv-ing MPs

No Answer

Campaign applications

65.52 51.72 51.72 34.48

Promoting Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation through ICT

Impact of the inter-parliamentary communica-

Very low

tion using ICTs High Impact Quite High Impact

Quite Low Impact

Impact Don’t Know

No an-swer

17.24 6.9 13.79 13.79 27.59 20.69

Swaziland Parliament’s success in terms of

promoting inter-parliamentary communication

Very

using ICTs Very suc-cessful

Quite suc-cessful

Quite unsuc-cessful

unsuccessful Don’t Know

No an-swer

6.9 17.24 17.24 10.34 31.03 17.24

Benefits from a well implemented

Facilitates Reinforce parliamen-tary

Access best practice on

pro-

Promote

ICT programme on inter-parliamentary cooperation

information flow

Control and influence

poor ICT ap-plication

cooperation

and scrutiny at all with parliaments

levels from 3rd coun-tries

No an-swer

62.07 58.62 44.83 51.72 31.03


Appendix B: Staff of Parliament dataAccess and Use of Computers

Computer usage spreadsheet database Word pro-cessing

Powerpoint Publisher Forgotten any other X

6.67 percent 5.00 percent 51.67 per-cent

6.67 5.00 1.67 6.67 6.67

Computer usage everything No n/a

3.33 5.00 16.67

Integrating com-puter into office work

Not at all Rarely Occasion-ally

frequently almost always all the time No answer N/A

30.00 6.67 1.67 13.33 20.00 20.00 3.33 3.33

Time spent on computer for of-fice activities

none less than 1 hour

1 hr or more but less than

3 hrs

3 hrs or more

5 hrs or more 10 hrs or more no answer n/a

30.00 3.33 16.67 10.00 16.67 18.33 0 3.33

Proficiency levels

+unfamiliar newcomer beginner average advanced expert no answer n/a

18.33 5.00 13.33 35.00 15 1.67 3.33 6.67

Computer train-ing received to-date

none full day of less

less than 1 semester

1 semester more than 1 semester

n/a

25.00 8.33 46.67 6.67 8.33 3.33

Stage that best describes your computer inte-gration

awareness learning under-standing

familiarity adaptation creative appli-cation

forgotten n/a

11.67 10.00 11.67 18.33 23.34 10.00 1.67 8.33

ICT facilities you want established

acc pack-age

scanner remote access

ICT ser-vices and software

Internet computers/braille em-

bosser

cell phones

digital recording sys

3.33 3.33 3.33 5.00 33.33 28.33 1.67 3.33

ICT facilities you want established

training None no answer video play-er sys

1.67 3.33 15 3.33

ICT training needs

acc pack-age

trouble shooting

Ict ser-vices and software

basic com-puters

more computer knowledge

digital record-ing sys

training in data voice

Internet, com-puter

1.67 0.00 26.67 25.00 18.33 1.67 1.67 8.33

ICT training needs

data voice, database, publisher

refresher courses

no answer n/a networking webpage de-sign and main-

tenance

3.33 1.67 6.67 1.67 1.67 5.00

Access to In-ternet and how often is it used

no Yes half an hour

regularly daily

10.00 85.00 8.33 3.33 6.67

Access to home and/or external domain

have access no access external domain

60.00 21.67 16.67

Visits to Parlia-ment website

not at all less than 1 hr

1 hr or more

3 hr or more

71.67 16.67 5.00 1.67

Internet brows-ing

not at all less than 1 hour

1 hr or more

3 hrs or more

41.00 15.00 30.00 11.67

75ICT Master Plan

Appendix C: ICT Services and Requirements from the Staff and Heads of DepartmentsSections Reports Mode of

operation Users ICT Facility cur-

rently in useFacilities needed

Training needs

manual computer

Accounts 1. Daily as need arises – cash flow

X 1. Senior manage-ment

1. Computer 1. Internet 1. Power point 2. Advanced use of MS Word

2. Monthly - fi-nancial

X 2. Ministries and Departments

2. Software package for da-tabase

2. Account. Package

2. Advanced use of MS Word

3. Quarterly - fi-nancial

X 3 .Auditor General 3. Main frame Government system

3. Any useful facility that can help

3. Other use of available software

4.Management reports – perfor-mance reports

X 4. Public Accounts Committee

Administration 1. Monthly X 1. Members of Parliament

1. One Desktop Computer

1.intranet 1. Refresher courses

2. Quarterly X 2. The Parlia-mentary Service Board

2. Computer 3. Video player sys 4. Scanner

2. MS Word 3. Access 4. Power Point 5.Publisher

3. Annual reports X 3.Government Agencies

5.Accounting pack.

6. Internet

4. Donor Partners

Disability Unit 1. Quarterly perfor-mance reports

X 1. Members of Parliament

1. Desktop Com-puter

1. Computer 1. Computer skills

2. Transcribe docs. into Braille for the Senator

X X 2. The Senator 2. Braille em-bosser

2. Internet.

3. Daily generation of Parliamentary documents.

X 3. Clerk to Parlia-ment

3. Scanner

4. Printer

5. Paper cutter

Hansard 1.Hansard X 1.Members of Parliament

1.Desktop and Laptop comput-ers

1. New or im-proved dig. re-cording sys.

1. Training on the equipment cur-rently used

2.The Public 2. Internet

3. Computer

Hiv&Aids Unit 1. Committee reports

X 1. Partners of Government

1. Desktop Com-puter& Laptop

1.Internet 1. Spreadsheet

2. Letters, Policy briefs

X 2. Members of Parliament

2.Internet

3. Quarterly reports X 3. Clerk to Parlia-ment

3.More comp. knowledge

Library and Infor-mation

1. Quarterly perfor-mance reports

X 1.Members of Parliament

1.Desktop & Lap-top computers

1. Improved In-ternet

1. Webpage de-sign & main.

2.List of acces-sions

X 2. Government officials

2. Server 2. Training on Publisher

3. Annual perfor-mance reports

X 3. Researchers 3. In-service train-ing on new devel-opments of ICT

4. Donor Partners

77ICT Master Plan

Annex 2: Workshop on “The role of the Members of Parliament in building an Inclusive Information Society towards accelerating the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”

Table of Contents

Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................78A. Background and Objective .............................................................................................................79B. Attendance ....................................................................................................................................79C. Opening Session (Session I) ..........................................................................................................79D. Account of Proceedings ..................................................................................................................80Appendix I: List of Participants ...........................................................................................................86


Executive Summary

The workshop in Mbabane, Swaziland was undertaken in the context of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Multi-year programme and was organized by the ECA-Southern Africa (ECA-SA) in cooperation with the ICT, Science and Technology (ISTD) in support of the South African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) to implement its Information Communication Technology (ICT) Strategy for SADC Parliaments. The Workshop on the “role of members of Parliament in building an inclusive Information Society towards accelerating the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)” was undertaken in response to the Kingdom of Swaziland Parliament’s request for assistance to develop is ICT Master Plan in line with its National ICT Initiatives.

The Workshop was convened during the period of the 26 and 27 May 2010 and was attended by almost 40 Members and staff of Parliament including the President of the Senate, Deputy Speaker of the House, senior officials from the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies gender and NICI focal points including ICT Consultants.

The objectives of the Workshop were to sensitize the members of Parliament on the important role they are expected to play to support ICT for development policies and strategies at national, subregional and global levels as well as to enable Members of Parliament to advocate for development and use of ICTs in Parliament including facilitating them to be fully engaged in national ICT issues.

The workshop was opened by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Esther Dlamini who assured the workshop that they should not be intimidated by the topic of ICT which has been in the past been relegated to the bottom of development agenda but has now become a major influence in the region and continue to influence lives on daily basis.

On the other hand, the representative of the ECA reaffirmed the Commission’s resolve to empower the MPs as well as staff of Parliament to use ICT tools and gain adequate knowledge on Information Society issues so as to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.

ECA presented the Workshop with information on its work and the implementation of the Africa Information Society Initiative (AISI). Other presentations demonstrated the linkages between ICT applications and meaningful development. A perspective of how ICTs can be harnessed to promote gender equality was also presented including an overview of the SADC Initiative framework.

The Ministry responsible for ICT presented an overview of Swaziland ICT status, policy and current and future trends and the consultant for developing the ICT Master Plan presented the overview of the ICT status.

The workshop was informed of the objectives of the ICT Committee within Parliament one of which was to provide an environment which would be conducive to the effective engagement of Parliament and MPs in the process of building an inclusive Information knowledge Society.

The Workshop expressed support to the institutionalization of the ICT Committee in Parliament. The terms of reference with the ICT Committee plan of action were provided to speed up the process.

79ICT Master Plan

A. Background and Objective

In response to the Kingdom of Swaziland Parliament’s request to ECA-SA for assistance in development an ICT Master Plan in line with the South African Development Community Parliamentary Forum(SADC-PF) ICT Strategy, the ECA-SA Office in cooperation with the ECA, ICT, Science and Technology Division organized a workshop on the “The Role of the members of Parliament in building an Inclusive Information Society towards Accelerating the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”. This Workshop for Swaziland Parliament was held at Mountain Inn, Mbabane on 26 and 27 May 2010.

Prior to the Workshop, ECA held in December 2009, a training workshop for MPs and staff of Parliament to familiarize them with the concepts of ICT4D to enable them to argue the case for ICTs in development, to know the relationship between MDGs and ICTs and to better understand the benefit of using ICTs for social and economic progress. In addition, a consultant was engaged to undertake an assessment of ICT status in Parliament in order to identify areas and type of needs as well as assist in identifying actions required to be addressed during the development of the ICT Master Plan for Parliament.

In recognition of the vital role of Parliamentarians as representatives, public elected officials and lawmakers, overseers and legislators play in driving national, regional and international initiatives, it has also become imperative to understand their role in supporting ICT for development policy and strategies at national, subregional and global levels. It is therefore to this end that ECA organized the workshop in Mbabane with the overall objective of enabling Members of Parliament to advocate for development and use of ICTs in Parliament and to be fully engaged in national ICT issues.

The expectation of the workshop was that with enhanced understanding of the issues, Members of Parliament would be effectively involved in lobbying for policies underpinning the importance of ICTs to development including among others:

i) Promoting national ICT policy frameworks;

ii) Lobbying for domestication of the already signed regional instruments on ICT; and

iii) Building capacity of Parliaments to monitor existing policies to make sure they comply with international, regional and continental standards and developments.

B. Attendance

The meeting was attended by the Senate President, the Deputy Speaker, 10 Senators, 9 MPs, 6 Staff members of Parliament, 4 Consultants and 3 representatives of Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and 3 representatives from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (see Appendix I).

C. Opening Session (Session I)

a. Opening statements

Welcome remarks were delivered by Deputy Speaker of Parliament; Hon. Dr. Esther D. Dlamini who noted that most of the time, the topic on ICT was relegated to the bottom due to its intimidating nature but has nevertheless persistently emerged as a major influence in the daily lives of people and everyone in development has now to give it full attention. The Honourable Deputy Speaker informed the Members of Parliament that they can no longer

be followers of ICTs but must emerge as leaders and catalysts of a new enterprising society of enlightened people for a prosperous nation.

In delivering his opening remarks Dr. Sizo Mhlanga on behalf of the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Director of the Southern Africa Office outlined the objective of the workshop as follows:

i) To familiarize the MPs with ECA mandate to build the Information Society;

ii) To strengthen the role of Parliamentarians in building the Information Society and enhance awareness and use of ICT in Parliament

iii) To actively involve Parliamentarians to participate in the processes of e-strategies through the establishment of an ICT Committee in Parliament

iv) To involve the MPs in the development of the ICT Master Plan.

Dr. Sizo Mhlanga concurred with the remarks of the Deputy Speaker and explained that ICTs have become an important strategic tool in developed and developing countries for promoting competitiveness and stimulating economic growth in addition to lowering public service delivery costs in all sectors.

Adoption of Agenda and the Work Programme

The agenda shown below was adopted for the meeting.

Session I: Opening session

Session II: Information for development

Session III: Understanding the Kingdom of Swaziland ICT Environment

Session IV: Enabling environment – Information, Science and Technology for all

Session V: Institutionalizing ICT for Development within Parliament

Session VI: Way Forward

Session VII: Closing session

D. Account of Proceedings

a. Information for development (Session II)

i. Presentation of the ECA work programme, implementation of the AISI at national level and regional level- National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) process, and the role of Parliament.

The Chief of ICT Policy and Development Section in the Information Science and Technology Division presented the ECA work programme and gave the background of the Africa Information Society Initiative (AISI) which was launched in 1996 as a vision of ICT development in Africa and a cooperation framework for partners supporting ICT development in Africa. He outlined the activities of the AISI which entailed policy development of the

81ICT Master Plan

National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI); development of sectoral applications; the infrastructure development and Internet connectivity as well as training and capacity building

He went further to explain the policy process of deliverables which involves the baseline scenario of a framework which answers the question why a policy is required and the policy itself which outlines the Government’s commitments on what needs to be done and finally formulating a plan to translate commitment of the policy into concrete programmes to answer the question “how?” the policy will be delivered.

He informed the Workshop that almost all African countries had developed their NICI policies using the AISI framework but had not formulated plans to translate their commitments into concrete programmes. The presenter showed as an example, how ICT is under-budgeted in most sectors of national economies in Africa, even though the existence of policies in most countries has demonstrated that national Governments are committed to ICTs for development.

He further showed the pillars of e-Government to encompass public access to ICT; customs and immigration; e-Parliament; e-health; e-banking; e-procurement; e-commerce; e-tourism; ICT in education and communication and infrastructure. He informed the workshop that by using the e-Government index measure, the performance of Governments in the promotion of more efficient and effective government activities that facilitate accessibility to government services allowing greater public access to information and making Government more accountable to citizens can be estimated. He demonstrated how e-Government readiness data (web measure, infrastructure, human capital and e-Government readiness indices) for most African countries were on the very low end of scale as compared to the rest of the world.

In summary, the representative of ECA explained the importance of ICTs in Parliaments and how they can be utilized in promoting democracy by improved provision of information for citizens, public and private information institutions as well as enhancing interaction between Parliamentarians and citizens.

His presentation also acknowledged the challenges of Members of Parliament’s lack of ICT skills and access to infrastructure within Parliaments and constituencies and/or lack of strategic plans with implementation of islands of ICT solutions which have no clear definition of “need” and “problem”.

The presentation concluded by urging for development of e-strategies and master plans which focus on the core functions of Parliament and mainstreaming ICTs into the roles of Parliaments and Parliamentarians to enhance communications, dissemination and information management; interaction with constituents and the general public as well as to improve scrutiny of the Executive and to contribute to national, regional and global debates on the Information Society.

ii. Presentation of the linkage between ICT applications and meaningful development.

Another ECA presentation was demonstrated to the Members of Parliament, as Government leaders, the linkage between ICT applications and meaningful development. It demonstrated the link between ICT and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), ICT policy making and e-Government applications; ICT tools and technologies used in Internet security and governance, management and funding of ICT projects and how ICTs facilitate regional integration.

The presentation explained the progress of MDGs in the Africa region where progress is uneven although with some visible and widespread gains in some countries even as some countries will miss the targets set for 2015, especially with MDGs 4,5,6, for reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating infectious diseases as well as the slow progress towards universal primary education (MDG 2).

The Workshop was informed that the reasons for divergence in progress was lack of greater public investment in social sectors of education and health and the challenges of relating social outcomes with public expenditures and/


or the influence of other factors. The presenter pointed that poor governance, poor policy choices, corruption and denial of human rights all exacerbated the challenges.

The presenter pointed out that addressing Africa’s infrastructure needs in a regional manner would enable countries to reap better benefits of economies, develop intra-Africa trade and enhance competitiveness in a global manner and enhance regional cooperation which all can be enabled by the use of ICTs.

He proceeded by demonstrating how ICTs can enhance linkages for complex planning processes, improve coordination across sectors, enable information sharing enable reaching out and monitoring services and scaling up access to education as well as linking communities to markets and many others.

The presenter concluded by explaining what ICTs were, their scope of use, their strengths, weaknesses and what they are currently used for such as computer based learning, conferencing, file transfer, bulletin boards, emails, websites to name a few.

b. Understanding the Kingdom of Swaziland ICT environment (Session III)

i. Overview of Swaziland ICT status, policy, current and future trends

The representative of the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology presented the overview of the Kingdom of Swaziland ICT status, policy, current and future trends. He informed the workshop that the Government of Swaziland has articulated its political support on the country’s use of ICTs by putting in place a National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) Policy which effectively provide a roadmap for guided proliferation of ICT use in the country. He also informed the meeting that the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology was currently working on the Policy’s strategic implementation plan.

The presenter further informed the Workshop that the ownership of both fixed and mobile networks was monopolized by Swaziland Post and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) which is state owned. He elucidated that notwithstanding the current monopoly environment, fixed and mobile penetration were relatively high with fixed line connections at 4 percent teledensity and mobile network teledensity at 53 percent.

The representative of the Ministry also informed the meeting that the current challenge was to put in place a Communication Regulatory Authority to regulate the industry and establish appropriate subscriber rates conformable with market trends.

In presenting the status of the Internet in the country, the presenter informed the meeting that there were presently eight major Internet providers (ISPs) with estimated customer base of 20, 000. He explained that calls to any ISPs connected to the national gateway are charged at the local call rate regardless of the location within the country. He stated that despite the level of discounts available, ICTs in the Swaziland are still unaffordable to the ordinary Swazis.

The workshop was informed that the country’s geographical coverage by radio broadcasts was presently at 95 percent by FM signals through terrestrial means. He informed the workshop that there was currently no law in the country that regulates or provides for the establishment for radio broadcasting. However there are two laws currently under draft, the Swaziland Broadcasting Law and the Public Broadcasting Law, both intended to cover both the radio and television. The workshop was also informed of the digitalization programme for television which is envisioned to be completed by June 2015.

The presenter concluded by affirming that the implementation of the NICI policy if given the necessary political support would turn around the fortunes of the country as studies have shown that an increase of broadband

83ICT Master Plan

Internet or connectivity to the rural areas even to as small a margin of 10 percent would result with an increase of 1.2 percent growth in GDP which would in turn mean an increase in job provision, wealth and overall socio-economic development.

ii. Brief on harnessing ICTs to promote gender equality in Swaziland

The presentation sought to encourage gender mainstreaming in the crafting of the ICT policy and action plan for Swaziland to speed up the Millennium Development Goals and other developmental benchmarks. The presenter reminded the Workshop that it should be born in mind that ICTs are facilitative tools to the achievement of the MDGs not intended as solution to these issues.

The presenter also briefed the Members of Parliament a gendered ICT landscape where the digital divide is not only addressing the societal inequalities in economic, educational, social and cultural issues but it also makes distinction between the techno-poor and the techno-rich by gender classification to made allowance for more inclusion of women in ICTs and provide them with more knowledge and access to technology.

The presenter further urged the Members of Parliament to mainstream gender in ICTs consultations and when crafting legislations, policies, strategies, programmes and action plans for implementation by adopting a comprehensive approach that is aimed to change the way of thinking, addressing the underlying causes of gender inequality.

iii. Overview of Parliament of Swaziland ICT Status

The Consultant on the Parliament of Swaziland ICT Master Plan presented the ICT status of Swaziland Parliament by first informing the workshop of its objectives which entail the following:

i) Strengthening ICT governance;

ii) Strengthening Parliament’s Information and Knowledge Infrastructure;

iii) Strengthening Parliament’s oversight, legislative and advocacy functions;

iv) Strengthening Parliament’s involvement in national and subregional ICT policy and strategies;

v) Strengthening members’ involvement in ICT for community development activities;

vi) Strengthening MPs’ capacity and advocacy on e-Government, e-Governance and e-Democracy;

vii) Assessing the ICT Master Plan risk and suggest risk-mitigation strategy and systems for tracking the ICT Master Plan implementation indicators;

viii) Developing a comprehensive detailed budget and activities chronograms covering a three year period

ix) Developing and implementing resource mobilization strategy for speeding up implementation of the Master Plan; and

x) Enhancing inter-parliamentary cooperation, joint efforts and knowledge sharing through use of appropriate technology.

She also presented the methodology undertaken and the response obtained from the Parliament which in the case of Members of Parliament was 83 percent and the staff was 98 percent.

She pointed that responses received on the whole indicated that as low as around 40 percent Members of Parliament used computers in the work place and alarmingly the majority of Members of Parliament provide an answer to the question whether there was availability of infrastructure for personal or shared use perhaps due to lack of training


as the majority had no training in computer. The need of training in software packages was high including in all other areas of ICTs.

The Consultant also showed the Workshop that over 70 percent of Members of Parliament were not aware of the national ICT Policy and Strategy and did understand how it could contribute to an inclusive Information Society in Swaziland. The Members of Parliament agreed that more needs to be done in terms of raising awareness about ICT contribution to Millennium Development Goals and building capacity of members of Parliament on information society to foster their roles in e-strategies processes including their ability to ensure more funds to implement them.

The presenter further informed that most Member of Parliament affirmed that promoting ICTs for constituency development has not been successful and thus a strategy need to be developed.

The inadequacy of ICT infrastructure was confirmed by both the staff of Parliament and the heads of Departments which concluded that the standard and level of computerization across board need to be raised to improve efficiency to effect ICT integration in the workplace.

c. Enabling environment – The e-SADC Initiative (Section IV)

i. Presentation of an ICT Initiative Study undertaken towards harmonized ICT programmes in the SADC region

The Workshop was informed of the e-SADC Initiative study which was undertaken by Solisane Investment, a Swazi Consulting Company engaged by ECA-SA and SADC with following objectives:

a. Assessment of the promotion of ICT usage for regional economic integration;

b. Enhancement of connectivity and access to ICT services among and within the member States;

c. Development of applications and content for the subregion, while encouraging public-private partnership;

d. Ensuring that the e-strategy covers all aspect of e-applications, including e-Government, e-commerce, e-education; e-health; and e-agriculture; and

e. Ensuring that the e-strategy addresses policy, legislation, regulation and financial resources where relevant.

The presentation highlighted the role of Government in ICT for development, stating how stakeholder partnerships could be forged for cost sharing between Government, the private sector, NGOs and the donor community.

It also informed the meeting that the e-SADC Initiative study showed the need for Governments to encourage the establishment of ICT institutions for training to provide the required regulatory and policy environment for the ICT sector as well as coherent national plans to integrate ICT-based development.

It further informed the Workshop that the e-SADC Initiative Study culminated in the formulation of an e-SADC Strategy Framework which turned the SADC declared priorities to action plans, presented through thematic areas as follows:

• Enabling the delivery of quality ICT services;

• E-application and services; and

• Governance of the e-SADC Strategy.

85ICT Master Plan

The presentation highlighted the following as the objectives and pillars of the e-SADC Strategy Framework:

1. Provision of a conducive legal, policy and regulatory environment for the development of an ICT culture;

2. Investment in development of ICT human resources including for education;

3. Development of ICT infrastructure and security;

4. Development of local content and digital content and e-applications including e-Government;

5. Increasing the usage of ICT in business ; and

6. Development of an ICT industry.

The presentation finally urged Members of Parliament to assist their Government in undertaking the same activities being undertaken at the regional level to enhance ICT development in the region.

d. Institutionalizing ICT for Development within Parliament (Section V)

i. The role of Parliament ICT Committees and developing an ICT Committee Plan of Action

The representative of the ECA outlined to the workshop the objectives of the ICT Committee and the responsibilities of the Committee Members. He informed the meeting of the structure and composition of the ICT Committee in Parliament which could have an external multidisciplinary advisory group if required. He also stated that the ICT Committee would lead in the development and implementation of the ICT Master Plan for Parliament.

The Terms of Reference of Reference of the ICT Committee and the implementing strategic plan of action were given to the Parliament for consideration.

e. Way Forward

It was recommended that ICT committee should be instituted as a matter of urgency and the names of the Committee transmitted to ECA for further direction in implementing the ICT Master Plan in Parliament.

The Workshop also supported the establishment of an ICT Department.

f. Closing session

The workshop was closed with gratitude to ECA for its support for the work of the Swaziland Parliament and the promise that the Parliament would start setting up all required institutional structures for full integration of technology in the work of Parliament Members and staff of Parliament. The meeting was also assured that the provided Terms of Reference of the ICT Committee would be used as a guideline for raising the issues with the Speaker of Parliament.

Appendix I: List of Participants

1. Sen. Gelane Zwane, Senate President, Parliament, P.O. Box 312, Eveni, Swaziland, Tel: +268 7606 4036/+268 4162254, E-Mail:

2. Hon. Esther D. Dlamini, Deputy Speaker, Parliament, P.O. Box 37 Lobamba, Swaziland, Tel: +268 416 2407/+268 7606 4050 E-Mail: [email protected];

3. Hon. Peter Ngwenya, Member of Parliament , Parliament, P.O. Box 955, Matsapha, Tel: +268 7602 3045/+268 7604 8399; E-Mail:

4. Sen. Khephu Cindzi, Senator, Parliament, P.O. Box 336, Lobamba, Swaziland; Tel:+268 7605 3253;E-Mail: [email protected];

5. Hon. Charlie Myeza; Member of Parliament, Parliament; P.O. Box 3511, Mbabane, Swaziland; Tel: +268 7680 8436;E-Mail:

6. Hon. Sibusiso M. Dlamini; Member of Parliament; Parliament; P.O. Box 9, Kwaluseni, Swaziland; Tel: +268 7604 3018; E-Mail:

7. Sen. Bhutana S. Dlamini; Parliament; P.O. Box 7023, Manzini, Swaziland; Tel:+268 7672 4960/+268 6033 761; E-Mail: [email protected]

8. Sen. Bonsile Q. Mngometulu, Senator, Parliament, P.O. Box 37, Lobamba; Swaziland,Tel: +268 7626 5600; E-Mail: [email protected];

9. Sen. Themba Msibi, Senator, Parliament, P.O. Box 2232, Mbabane, Swaziland; Tel: +268 416 2410; E-Mail: [email protected]

10. Sen. Nozibele Bujela, Senator; Parliament, P.O. Box 37, Lobamba, Swaziland, +268 416 2410/+268 7603 7388; E-Mail:

11. Sen. Winnie Nxumalo-Magagula, Senator, Parliament; P.O. Box 3696, Mbabane, Swaziland; Tel: +268 416 2254/+268 76060 309; E-Mail: [email protected]

12. Hon. Thandi Nxumalo, Senator, Parliament, P.O. Box 477, Manzini, Swaziland; Tel: +268 416 2011/+268 7604 9418; E-Mail: [email protected]

13. Hon. Rodgers Mamba, Member of Parliament, Parliament ; P.O. Box 37, Lobamba, Swaziland; Tel: +268 7604 3292;E-Mail: [email protected]

14. Hon. Robert Magongo, Member of Parliament, Parliament, P.O. Box 6256, Mbabane, Swaziland, P.O. Box 6256, Mbabane, Swaziland, Tel: +268 7605 6866; E-Mail: [email protected]

15. Hon. Qedusizi E. Ndlovu, Member of Parliament, Parliament, P.O. Box 34, Lavumisa, Swaziland, Tel: +268 7615 7178; E-Mail:

16. Hon. Bongani S. Mdluli, Member of Parliament, Parliament, P.O. Box 52, Tshaneni, Swaziland, Tel: +268 7611 2509; E-Mail: [email protected]

17. Hon. France Dlamini; Member of Parliament;, Parliament , P.O. Box 1018, Matsapha, Swaziland; Tel: +268 7602 1555;E-mail: [email protected]

18. Sen. Thandi Shongwe, Senator, Parliament; P.O. Box 1430 Mbabane, Swaziland Tel: +268 7660 6796; E-mail: [email protected]; +268 7660 6796; E-mail: [email protected]

19. Hon. Gibson Hlophe, Member of Parliament, Parliament, P.O. Box 1318, Mbabane, Swaziland; Tel: +268 7615 9681; E-Mail: [email protected]

87ICT Master Plan

20. Sen. Ndileka N. Dlamini, Senator. Parliament, P.O. Box 175 Malkerns , Swaziland; Tel: +268 7604 0880; E-Mail: [email protected]

21. Sen. Victor Malambe, Senator, Parliament; P.O. Box 69 Tshaneni ,Swaziland; Tel: +268 416 2409

22. Ms. Esther Nxumalo, Information Manager, Parliament, P.O. Box 37 Lobamba, Swaziland; Tel: +268 7603 2487; E-Mail: [email protected]

23. Mr. Thando Dlamini, Assistant Clerk, Parliament, P.O. Box 37 Lobamba, Swaziland, Tel: +268 7602 2003; E-Mail: [email protected]

24. Mr. Nhlanhla Zwane, Technician, Parliament, P.O. Box 37 Lobamba, Swaziland; Tel: +268 7605 7999; E-Mail: [email protected]

25. Ms. Thabsile Simelane; Assistant Clerk; Parliament; P.O. Box 37 Lobamba; Swaziland; Tel: +268 7644 8478

26. Ms. Tenele Dlamini; Hansard Transcriber; Parliament; P.O. Box 37,Lobamba ,Swaziland ; Tel: +268 7613 3010; E-Mail: [email protected]

27. Mr. Wilson Nkambule, Assistant Librarian, Parliament , P.O. Box 37, Lobamba , Swaziland; +268 7623 7727; E-Mail: [email protected]

28. Mr. Nqaba Khumalo; Caretaker ; Parliament; P.O. Box 37 Lobamba ; Swaziland; Tel: +268 7603 9715

29. Mr. Mandla D.S. Motsa, Director Communications, Ministry of ICT; P.O. Box 642, Mbabane Swaziland; Tel: +268 7606 3905; E-Mail: [email protected]

30. Ms. Bongiwe Duma Dlamini; Legal Advisor-Communications, Ministry of ICT, P.O. Box 4497 Mbabane, Swaziland ,Tel: +268 7604 0759; E-Mail: [email protected]

31. Mr. Sipho M. Vilakati, Director-Government Computers, Ministry of ICT; P.O. Box 3726 Mbabane ; Swaziland; +268 7606 372/+268 408 3000; E-Mail: [email protected]

Consultants

32. Mr. Richard Mabuza, Consultant, Swaziland PTC/Solisane Investments; P.O. Box 1688 Mbabane, Swaziland; Tel: +268 7606 2002; E-Mail: [email protected]

33. Ms. Nozipho Simelane; Consultant; Solisane-Swaziland; P.O. Box A461, Mbabane, Swaziland; Tel: +268 7602 9277; E-Mail: [email protected]

34. Ms. Doo Aphane; Consultant-Gender and Human Rights; Aatlon Consulting; P.O. Box 1903 Mbabane, Swaziland; Tel: +268 76071830;[email protected];

35. Dr. Violet Nkambule; Consultant KWASA International Development & Consulting Center (KIDCC) Manzini. Email: [email protected] Tel: (+268) 505-2352 Cell: (+268)7604-6727

ECA Resource persons

36. Dr. Sizo Mhlanga, Chief ICT, Science and Technology (ISTD), ECA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tel: +251 11 5443636 / +251 11 5511408 ext 33636; Fax: +251 11 5510512 Email: [email protected]

37. Mr. Girma Dessalegn, Associate Information Network Officer, ISTD/ECA Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tel: +251 11 5443636 / +251 11 5511408 ext 33636; Fax: +251 11 5510512 Email: [email protected]

38. Ms. Atamelang Princess Ngwako, Associate Economic Affairs Officer, ISDRI, ECA-SA, Tel: (260-211)228502-5/231062 Ext.21341 Email: [email protected], [email protected]


References

http://www.uneca.org/aisi/

ICT survey (2002):http://www.sadcpf.org/index.php?disp=documentsspeeches&sec=10

Democratic Governance Group/Bureau of Development policy/UNDP (March 3006) “Empowering Parliaments through the use of ICTs”

www.sadcpf.org/documents/Communique1.doc

http://www.itu.int/wsis/

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs/background/resolutions/56_183_unga_2002.pdf

Workshop Communiqué: “Building an inclusive Information Society in SADC Region: Making ICTs work in Parliament” Johannesburg, South Africa, February 2007

2010 Survey results annexed to this report “Report of ICT Needs Assessment for Swaziland Parliament – April 2010”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Virtual_Private_Network_overview.svg

http://www.gov.sz/

Constitution of Swaziland, 2005, http://www.gov.sz/

89ICT Master Plan

ict master plan...ict master plan v foreword parliaments, as one of the important pillars for...

Documents